COREA. 
487 
about it. Each official is the judge as to how much each land culti- 
vator should pay each year. The principle is supposed to be to collect 
the impost according to the ability of the farmer to pay and to the 
exigencies of the Government. This system naturally hfis led to the 
levy being at once unproductive and oppressive. The officials have 
far less power than the local nobles, consequently the nobles escape 
the land tax, and the richer a man is, and the more friends he has got, 
the easier it is for him to have his land tax lightly assessed, while the 
poor are badly oppressed. The only remedy is for the people to rise 
in insurrection. The consequence is that every spring, from time 
immemorial, there have been insurrections. Very bloodless affairs as 
a rule, and considering the numbers engaged these insurrections were 
far less dangerous than our game of football, or than the Corean 
game of stone-fighting, which takes place in winter just before the 
season for insurrections. 
These insurrections, as a rule, end in the Kiug cashiering a 
certain number of officials and appointing new ones ; but sometimes 
this did not end the game, and the Chinese would be asked for help. 
In such cases the Chinese would send troops nominally to quell the 
insurrection, but really to act as mediators between the officials and 
people, and to compel the nobles to pay their fair share of the taxes, 
which, after all, are not very heavy, or rather would not be if evenly 
distributed* 
This treaty of 1885 inferentially placed China and Japan on a 
similar footing towards Corea. After this treaty, I presume, if the 
King of Corea required troops he would be free to ask them of either 
power he chose, but neither power could concede the request without 
notifying the other. 
From 1885 to 1893 everything went well ; the prosperity of Corea 
was increasing by leaps and bounds; the government was gradually 
improving; the people were developing germs of a capacity for trade, 
and of habits ot frugality. Practical schemes of railways, bridges, 
and improving the roads in the country were being seriously 
considered. The Customs revenue from January to the end of May, 
1894, was the best on record. There had been capital stone-fights 
in winter, and now spring came on and there was to be a splendid 
game at insurrection. Unfortunately the game of insurrection seemed 
to be gone into with even too much ardour, and the King applied to 
China for help. China, the day she consented, notified Japan, and 
landed 2,000 men on the 10th June, as near as possible to the scene 
of the insurrection. Japan, under the pretence of strengthening the 
Legation guard, landed a larger force on the same day close to Soul, 
and at once marched it to Soul, and occupied the capital unopposed, 
except by protest of the Corean Government. Very soon Japan had 
something like 12,000 men in the country under the pretext of a 
Legation guard, and not only occupied the capital but also the treaty 
ports, especially Chemulpo. The Corean authorities said the insur- 
rection was over, and asked both parties to withdraw their troops 
simultaneously. China assented, but Japan refused to comply. 
On the 23rd July Japanese soldiers attacked and took the palace 
in Soul. The King ordered his troops not to return the J apanese fire, 
consequently there were blit few casualties on the Japanese side. 
The King and Koyal family were made prisoners by the Japanese and 
