the kingdom, will appeal to many thousands of other would-be settlers. Whatever objection the Korean Government may offer to this invasion, it is quite certain that with the very heart of the agricultural districts laid bare, Korea must be prepared to see a rapid increase in her already large Japanese population. In a great part the increase is already an accomplished fact. The influence of Japan is already supreme in Korea. It is paramount in the Palace; and it is upheld by settlements in every part of the country. In the capital itself there is a flourishing colony of four thousand adults. She has established her own police force; created her own post-office, telephone, cable and wireless telegraph system. She has opened mines—her principal mine is at Chik-san—and has introduced many social and political reforms, besides being the greatest economic factor in the trade of the kingdom.
Little development has distinguished the concessions secured by the French in Korea. A railway concession was abandoned a few years ago; and an existing charter, covering certain mining rights, has almost expired. M. Colin de Plancy, the amiable and energetic French Minister in Korea, has, however, succeeded in re-arranging the terms of the abandoned concession. In addition to this, in June 1903, he applied for a new gold-mining concession in Chyung-chyöng Province. The concession, which has been revived, was granted so far back as 1896; but it was forfeited long since, and only recently revoked. By the old agreement a French syndicate, La Compagnie de Fines-Lille, received a charter to construct a line of railway between Seoul and Wi-ju, the important frontier port at the mouth of the Yalu. The construction of this line, which will form, together with the Seoul-Fusan railway, the
