gested the advisability of replacing the Korean palace guards by a force of constables largely consisting of Japanese and under the control of the Japanese police adviser. Later reports indicate that these proposals have been strictly carried out.

I have telegraphed to Mr. Paddock for full information on the subject. Meanwhile I have the honor to inclose herewith notes from the local newspapers, English and Japanese, giving such information and comment as is at present available.

I have, etc.,

LUKE E. WRIGHT.

[Inclosure 1.]

[From the Japan Daily Mail of Yokohama, Friday, July 6, 1906.]

WEDNESDAY, July 4.

It would seem that a strong movement is on foot in official circles in Seoul to effect the apprehension of all the persons in the Imperial court who are connected with the disturbances. There have been long conferences at the palace between the Emperor and his chief ministers. The resident-general had a protracted audience on the 2d, and various consultations have taken place between him and the leading members of the cabinet. Meanwhile the duty of guarding the gates of the palace has been transferred from the Korean police to Japanese constables, and on the 2d Mr. Maruyama, adviser on police affairs, went into the palace accompanied by a body of police. The Asahi Shimbun says that the resident-general's first audience lasted fully two hours.

Three hundred and sixty policemen are expected soon to reach Korea. This is in accord with the programme recently described in our columns. Two hundred and fifty of the constables will be attached to the residency-general and the remaining 110 will be sent to the various residencies.

THURSDAY, July 5.

It is easy to foresee that there will now be a recrudescence of stories analogous to those circulated in connection with the signing of the November convention between Korea and Japan. The latter's very scrupulous critics in the Far East charged her roundly with securing the convention by force, and now a false rumor has been started that Marquis Ito, accompanied by 50 policemen and a detachment of soldiers, repaired to the palace at midnight on the 2d instant and did not leave it until 5 a. m. on the 3d, by which time he had secured three important concessions from the court. This exploit is now explicitly denied, but a denial will count for little with the gentry who sit in judgment. We may observe, en passant, that these critics are curiously reckless about consistency. For while charging Marquis Ito with obtaining the November convention by force, they lose no opportunity of encouraging the Koreans to fight by assuring them that Japan dare not exercise force. The Japan Times, in its issue of the 4th instant, published the following telegram from Seoul:

"SEOUL, July 3.

“Marquis Ito, the resident-general, had yesterday afternoon a two hours' audience with the Emperor and talked with His Majesty on subjects of the most vital importance. Among other things the marquis pointed out the absolute necessity of clearing the court of all sorts of evil characters, such as soothsayers, charmers, intriguers, etc., who daily and nightly infest the palace and whose unceasing machinations seriously imperil the friendship between Japan and Korea, and dangerously compromise the dignity and safety of the Korean Imperial house. In order to save the Emperor the annoyance and dangers caused by these persons, the resident-general suggested the advisability of replacing the incompetent palace guards by a more efficient force of constables under the Japanese police adviser, to which the Emperor readily consented.

"The resident-general summoned this morning the Korean ministers and gave them instructions regarding the purification to be made in the court circles."

Japanese journals supplement this by saying that the marquis asked His Majesty to take steps such as should prevent the dispatch of the Emperor's sympathy to the Wi Pyon and to the anti-Japanese parties in Shanghai, Vladivostok, and elsewhere. In other words, the resident-general required the Korean sovereign to refrain in future from using the Wi Pyon and the intriguers in Shanghai and Vladivostok as instruments for opposing Japan's reforms in Korea. His excellency further asked that greater attention should be paid to the engagement which pledges the court to communicate with the residency-general on each occasion of audience being granted to a foreign

consul.

The Emperor has issued an edict calling for the purification of the court, which is now infested with literati, soothsayers, and other semiadventurers, whose intrigues are a constant menace to public peace. His Majesty alludes to previous edicts of the same character, all of which have proved futile in the enforcement, and he demands, with apparent sincerity, that on this occasion there shall be no paltering in giving effect to his clearly expressed wishes. The first measure for the purpose of carrying out this edict and cleansing the court of objectionable characters has been the appointment of a committee consisting of Messrs. Li Chaikeuk, minister of the household; Li Chiyong, minister of home affairs; Maruyama, police adviser; Li Keung-ho, chief of the administrative bureau in the household; and Kokubu, a secretary. Further, the duty of guarding the palace has been placed in the hands of the Japanese police under Mr. Maruyama.

As illustrating the extraordinary changeableness of Korean policy, it is mentioned that on the morning of the 3d instant Messrs. Li Keung-ho-a member of the above committee-and Li Yong-tai, vice-minister of the household, called on Marquis Ito and begged that the arrangement for having the palace guarded by Japanese police should be abandoned. Marquis Ito gave a very emphatic refusal. He reminded his visitors that only a few hours had elapsed since the sovereign himself had sanctioned this arrangement, and he declared his opinion that no other step could secure the effectual carrying out of the Imperial edict for purifying the court. Such vacillation was at the root of nearly all past troubles. The two ministers could not choose but consent.

An interesting feature of the situation is that Mr. Kang Sak-ho, a high court official, said to be the chief instigator of the recent insurrection, is believed to have been hiding within the palace ever since the arrest of so many of his associates, and it is expected that his apprehension will speedily follow the posting of Japanese police as court guards. The household denies that Kang is in hiding there, but the denial is not credited.

[Inclosure 2.-Translation.]

[From the Jiji Shimpo of July 6, 1906. Seoul telegram, dated the afternoon of July 5.] THE EFFECT OF THE RESIDENT GENERAL'S ADVICE TO THE EMPEROR OF KOREA. Resident General Ito's audience with the Emperor of Korea is producing manifold effects. By issuing an edict, the Emperor has prohibited the coming of unqualified persons to the court. Courtier Cho has been arrested, while Mr. Li, minister of imperial household, has sent in his resignation. Each minister keeps watch every other night at the court, and the ministerial decision not to admit any but the court officials within the palace has received the Emperor's sanction, and the regulations have been published. The bureau of court police will be reorganized as the first step to the reforms of the Korean court.

It may be added that the step taken was not expected at all on the part of the Koreans, and the court was very much disturbed. The Emperor sent for Prince Wi-hwa on the night of the 3d instant, but His Highness did not come to the palace under pretext of indisposition.

There is a rumor current that Resident General Ito's advice to the Emperor was to make His Majesty abdicate in favor of Prince Wi-hwa. Many other Conjectures are being circulated in order to bring about discord between Japan and Korea.

[Inclosure 3.-Translation.]

[From the Jiji Shimpo of July 6, 1906.]

THE PALACE POLICE OF KOREA.

As a measure of reforming the Imperial Court of Korea, Resident General Ito has added outside police forces to the regular palace police for guarding the palace. In this connection, the appointment as the palace guard commissioners of Lisaikoku, minister of imperial household; Lishiyo, minister of interior; Likonko, superintendent of palaces; Maruyama, Japanese police adviser to the Korean Government; and Kokubu, secretary to the residency general, must be regarded as a noteworthy reform. It has been a great evil of long standing that those vagrants who have no official connection whatever have had free access to the court, have won imperial favors for attaining their own selfish ends, and started various intrigues, both at home and abroad. The troubles of Korea's internal administration and diplomacy have mainly sprung from this source. But if the access of unqualified persons to the palace can be restricted by the enforcement of the new police system, with the addition of the Japanese police forces, the order of the Korean court will gradually be restored, while the welfare and dignity of the Korean imperial family will also be maintained.

THE MAINTENANCE OF THE WELFARE AND DIGNITY OF THE KOREAN IMPERIAL FAMILY.

The fact that those dangerous persons who start intrigues abroad or stay at home to disturb the peace of the country have hitherto had free access to the court demonstrates the utter incompetency of the native palace police of Korea. The reform just inaugurated by our resident general is, therefore, a measure perfectly in conformity with his functions.

Should, however, this state of things be left for a long time to come as it is now, the Korean imperial court will eventually become a hotbed of conspiracies and intrigues, whence spring all sorts of troubles, domestic as well as foreign. Then the sacred imperial palace will become a rendezvous of knaves and rascals, while at the same time nothing will remain of the welfare and dignity of the imperial family of Korea. It will therefore mean the gradual downfall of the imperial family. Japan can not keep silent without doing anything, according to the provisions article 5 of the Japan-Korean agreement, and it is probable that the Korean Emperor has become uneasy about the situation and has promptly accepted the advice of the resident general. The Korean Emperor can be an enlightened monarch if he be properly assisted and guided, but it should be remembered that the present reform is an extremely important one to the court. Since it is not improbable that the Korean people fail more or less to understand the significance of the situation, we hope that it may carefully be explained and specially that the Emperor may be reassured.

No. 48.]

Ambassador Wright to the Secretary of State.

[Extract.]

AMERICAN EMBASSY,

Tokyo, August 18, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith inclosed two newspaper clippings in duplicate, taken from the Japan Times of August 8 and 14, in relation to the issuance for M. Plançon of an exequatur as Russian consul-general at Seoul.

The conflict between the Russian and Japanese Governments in regard to the form of M. Plançon's commission and the source of issuance of the exequatur has been settled by Russia's yielding to Japan's demand for the suppression in the one of the name of the Emperor of Korea, and that the request for the other be made to the Japanese Government.

I have, etc.,

LUKE E. WRIGHT.

[Inclosure 1.]

[From The Japan Times, of Tokyo, Wednesday, August 8, 1906.]

SATISFACTORY SOLUTION.

We reported some time ago that M. Plançon, the new Russian consul-general at Seoul, in proceeding to his post, had decided to yield to the Japanese proposal that, in view of the transfer of the control of the Korean diplomatic and consular affairs to the hands of our authorities, he should go to Seoul with the sanction of the Tokyo Government to exercise his duties in Korea. It was then yet alleged, however, that despite the Russian acknowledgment of our position in Korea as above, there still existed some point of disagreement between the Government in Tokyo and that in St. Petersburg with regard to the question relating to the credentials with which M. Plançon was going to Seoul. Russia insisted on her peculiar way of addressing the credentials given her consular agent to the sovereign of the state to which the agent was appointed, quite contrary to the general rules prevailing among the powers in this connection. Thus, inasmuch as the credentials carried by M. Plançon were addressed to the Korean Emperor, who had intrusted to the hands of the Imperial Government the entire control of the diplomatic and consular affairs in the peninsula, our authorities were unable to give M. Plançon sanction to exercise his new duties there. Now, it is stated that the Russian Government has signified its consent to change the form of the credentials, in accordance with the ordinary usage and satisfactory to our Government. No doubt that this change of attitude on the part of the St. Petersburg authorities was due to the efforts of M. Iswolsky, the new Russian foreign minister. In view of the satisfactory turn of the affair, and in consideration of the fact that the Russian Government willingly recognized the position of Mr. Motono as our minister in St. Petersburg prior to his presentation of his credentials, the Imperial Government is said to have given M. Plançon sanction to stay at Seoul as Russian consul-general, notwithstanding his inability as yet to present his credentials in the new form. This satisfactory solution of the muchtalked-of question is a welcome sign for the promotion of the friendly relations between the two countries.

[Inclosure 2.]

[From The Japan Times, of Tokyo, Tuesday, August 14, 1906.]

STATEMENT BY THE RESIDENCY-GENERAL.

In connection with the Plançon affair, the amicable settlement of which was reported by us some days ago, the residency-general in Korea issued, on the 9th instant, a statement reviewing the affair substantially as follows:

The Japanese Government, in consideration of the fact that, by virtue of the Japan-Korea agreement of November, last year, it has been intrusted with the control of the diplomatic and consular affairs in Korea, believes that there is no room for doubt that the foreign consuls in Korea should present their credentials to the Japanese Government and receive from it sanction to exercise their duties, in accordance with the ordinary rules of international law. Yet Russia had a different view, and negotiations between the two countries ensued, in Tokyo between Viscount Hayashi, our minister of foreign affairs, and M. Bakhmetieff, Russian minister, and in St. Petersburg between Count Lamsdorff, the Russian foreign minister, afterwards succeeded by M. Iswolsky, and Mr. Motono, our minister to Russia, with regard to the questions relating to the right of giving sanction to foreign consuls and the form of credentials carried by them. After repeated interviews and exchanges of official communications, the Russian Government finally acknowledged Japan's right of controlling diplomatic and consular affairs in Korea, and consented to our proposal that the Russian consul in Korea should obtain from the Japanese Government sanction to exercise his functions. Thus the affair was brought to an amicable settlement. But M. Plançon was unable to present at once to our Government his new credentials, owing to their nonarrival as yet, and the Imperial Government, in compliance with the request of the Russian Government, consented to grant M. Plançon a provisional sanction pending the

arrival of the formal credentials in the new form. Thereupon M. Plançon, taking steamer from Kobe, came to Seoul. The granting of the provisional sanction is a matter of courtesy on the part of the Japanese Government, and it goes without saying that it can be revoked at any time. The new credentials of M. Plançon will, it is expected, arrive within four weeks.

It may be added that the right of the Japanese Government to give sanction to foreign consuls in Korea is fully recognized by the powers. The British and Chinese consuls in Seoul have also received the sanction from our Government.

No. 29.]

MINING LAW OF KOREA.

Ambassador Wright to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY, Tokyo, July 18, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith, in duplicate, an official translation of the mining law of Korea, which was promulgated July 12, 1906.

It will be noted that the following articles thereof apply especially to the interests of foreigners in Korea, namely:

ART. 27. Inasmuch as the measures to be taken under the present law and the detailed regulations for carrying out the same will in many cases concern foreigners, no such measures shall be decided upon or executed without the previous consent of the resident-general. This stipulation shall also apply with regard to the mines belonging to the imperial household department.

ART. 30. Foreigners who have been granted mining rights and have begun operations in connection therewith before the promulgation of the present law and are still carrying on such operations shall observe the provisions heerof in so far as they do not conflict with the terms of the grants made to them.

I have, etc.,

[Inclosure.]

LUKE E. WRIGHT.

DETAILED REGULATIONS FOR ENFORCEMENT OF THE MINING LAW IN KOREA. [Ordinance No. 43 of the department of agriculture, commerce, and industry, promulgated July 28, 1906. (Translated at H. I. J. M.'s residency-general.)]

ARTICLE 1. The minerals mentioned in the mining law shall comprise gold, silver, copper, lead, tin, antimony, mercury, zinc, iron, manganese, graphite, coal, petroleum, and sulphur. Placer minerals do not come within the scope of the said law.

ART. 2. When mining rights are sold, otherwise transferred, or inherited, the rights and obligations appertaining to the holder thereof under the mining law or the present ordinance shall pass with the mining rights.

With regard to any procedure or action taken under the mining law or the present ordinance by any holder of mining rights, or any owner of lands or any person having an interest in such lands, the resposibility for such procedure or action shall extend to the assigns of such holder, owner, or person.

ART. 3. Where there is a fixed form for applications, requests, reports, or drawings concerning mining, such form shall be complied with.

ART. 4. Applications, requests, reports, and all other documents and drawings concerning mining shall, in the case of Korean subjects, be presented to the mining bureau in the department of agriculture, commerce, and industry, and in the case of foreigners, to the residency-general.

The day on which such documents or drawings are received at the mining bureau in the department of agriculture, commerce, and industry or at the residency-general, shall be regarded as the date of their official receipt.

ART. 5. The payment of fees shall be made in revenue stamps. Postal orders issued by any post-office and bills of exchange issued by the bank intrusted with the custody of government funds may also be used for making such payments.