Korea & Her Neighbours/PREFACE
I have been honored by Mrs. Bishop with an invitation to preface her book on Korea with a few introductory remarks.
Mrs Bishop is too well known as a traveler and a writer to require any introduction to the reading public, but I am glad to be afforded an opportunity of indorsing the conclusions she has arrived at after a long and intimate study of a people whose isolation during many centuries renders a description of their character, institutions and peculiarities, especially interesting at the present stage of their history.
Those who, like myself, have known Korea from its first opening to foreign intercourse will thoroughly appreciate the closeness of Mrs. Bishop's observation, the accuracy of her facts, and the correctness of her inferences. The facilities en-joyed by her have been exceptional. She has been honored by the confidence and friendship of the King and the late Queen in a degree that has never before been accorded to any foreign traveler, and has had access to valuable sources of information placed at her disposal by the foreign community of Seoul, official, missionary, and mercantile; while her pres-ence in the country during and subsequent to the war between China and Japan, of which Korea was, in the first instance, the stage, has furnished her the opportunity of recording with ac-curacy and impartiality many details of an episode in far East-ern history which have hitherto been clouded by misstatement and exaggeration. The hardships and difficulties encountered by Mrs. Bishop during her journeys into the interior of Korea have been lightly touched upon by herself ; but those who know how great they were, admire the courage, patience and endur-ance that enabled her to overcome them.
It must be evident to all who know anything of Korea that a condition of tutelage, in some form or another, is now abso-lutely necessary to her existence as a nation. The nominal independence won for her by the force of Japanese arms is a privilege she is not fitted to enjoy while she continues to labor under the burden of an administration that is hopelessly and superlatively corrupt. The role of mentor and guide exercised by China, with that lofty indifference to local interests that characterizes her treatment of all her tributaries, was under-taken by Japan after the expulsion of the Chinese armies from Korea. The efforts of the Japanese to reform some of the most glaring abuses, though somewhat roughly applied, were undoubtedly earnest and genuine; but, as Mrs. Bishop has shown, experience was wanting, and one of the Japanese Agents did incalculable harm to his country's cause by falling a victim to the spirit of intrigue which seems almost inseparable from the diplomacy of Orientals. Force of circumstances com-pelled Russia to take up the task begun by Japan, the King having appealed in his desperation to the Russian Representa-tive for rescue from a terrorism which might well have cowed a stronger and a braver man. The most partial of critics will admit that the powerful influence which the presence of the King in the house of their Representative might have enabled the Russian Government to exert has been exercised through their Minister with almost disappointing moderation. Never-theless, through the instrumentality of Mr. M'Leavy Brown, LL.D,, head of the Korean Customs and Financial Adviser to the Government, an Englishman whose great ability as an organizer and administrator is recognized by all residents in the farther East, the finances of the country have been placed in a condition of equilibrium that has never before existed; while numerous other reforms have been carried out by Mr. Brown and others with the cordial support and co-operation of the Russian Minister, irrespective of the nationality of the agent employed.
Much, however, still remains to be done; and the only hope of advance in the direction of progress— initiated, it is only fair to remember, by Japan, and continued under Russian auspices —is to maintain an iron grip, which the Russian Agents, so far, have been more careful than their Japanese predecessors to conceal beneath a velvet glove. The condition of Korean set-tlers in Russian territory described by Mrs. Bishop shows how capable these people are of improving their condition under wise and paternal rule; and, setting all political considerations aside, there can be no doubt that the prosperity of the people and their general comfort and happiness would be immensely advanced under an extension of this patronage by one or other civilized Power. Without some form of patronage or control, call it by what name we will, a lapse into the old groove of op-pression, extortion, and its concomitant miseries, is inevitable. Mrs. Bishop's remarks on missionary work in China and Korea, based, as they are, on personal and sympathetic obser-vation, will be found of great value to those who are anxious to arrive at a correct appreciation of Christian enterprise in these remote regions. Descriptions of missionaries and their doings are too often marred by exaggerations of success on the one hand, which are, perhaps, the natural outcome of enthusi-asm, and harsh and frequently unjust criticisms on the other, commonly indulged in by those who base their conclusions upon observation of the most superficial kind. Speaking from my own experience, I have no hesitation in saying that closer inquiry would dispel many of the illusions about the futility of missionary work that are, unfortunately, too common; and that missionaries would, as a rule, welcome sympathetic in-quiry into their methods of work, which most of them will frankly admit to be capable of improvement. But, while court-ing friendly criticism, they may reasonably object to be judged by those who have never taken the trouble to study their sys-tem, or to interest themselves in the objects they have in view. In Mrs. Bishop they have an advocate whose testimony may be commended to the attention of all who are disposed to re-gard missionary labor as, at the best, useless or unnecessary.
In Korea, at all events, to go no farther, it is to missionaries that we are assuredly indebted for almost all we know about the country; it is they who have awakened in the people the desire for material progress and enlightenment that has now happily taken root, and it is to them that we may confidently look for assistance in its farther development. The unacknowl-edged, but none the less complete, religious toleration that now exists throughout the country affords them facilities which are being energetically used with great promise of future suc-cess. I am tempted to call attention to another point m con-nection with this much-abused class of workers that is, I think, often lost sight of, namely, their utility as explorers and pio-neers of commerce. They are always ready — at least such has been my invariable experience — to place the stores of their local knowledge at the disposal of any one, whether merchant, sportsman, or traveler, who applies to them for information, and to lend him cheerful assistance in the pursuit of his ob-jects. I venture to think that much valuable information as to channels for the development of trade could be obtained by Chambers of Commerce if they were to address specific inqui-ries to missionaries in remote regions. Manufacturers are more indebted to missionaries than perhaps they realize for the intro-duction of their goods and wares, and the creation of a demand for them, in places to which such would never otherwise have found their way.
It is fortunate that Mrs. Bishop's visit to Korea was so op-portunely timed. At the present rate of progress much that came under her observation will, before long, be "improved" out of existence ; and though no one can regret the disappear-ance of many institutions and customs that have nothing but their antiquity to recommend them, she has done valuable serv-ice in placing on record so graphic a description of experiences that future travelers will probably look for in vain.
WALTER C. HILLIER.
October 1897.