perhaps because she saw the approach of her inevitable struggle with Russia, and was not willing to hasten matters by coming into premature conflict with the northern power in Korea, pending the completion of her preparations for the supreme struggle.
Through all this period Russian influence was quietly at work securing its hold upon the Korean court and upon such members of the government as it could win over. The general populace was always suspicious of her, however, and always preferred the rougher hand of Japan to the soft but heavy hand of Russia. The progress of the Russian plans was illustrated when, in January of 1899, a Mission of the Greek Church was established in Seoul.
Before going forward into the new century we should note some of the more important material advances that Korea had made. Railway concessions for some six hundred miles of track had been granted, half to Japanese and half to a French syndicate ; several new and important ports had been opened, bringing the total number up to ten, inclusive of Seoul and Pyeng-yang; mining concessions had been given to Americans, English, Germans, French and Japanese, two of which had proved at least reasonably successful; timber and whaling concessions had been given to Russians on the east side of the peninsula, and important fishing rights had been given to the Japanese; an attempt at a general system of education had been made throughout the country, and the work of publishing text-books was being pushed ; students were sent abroad to acquire a finished education, and legations at all the most important political centres were established; an attempt at a better currency had been made, though it was vitiated by official corruption and the operations of counterfeiters; trade had steadily increased, and the imports and exports of Korea passed beyond the negligible stage; an excellent postal system had been inaugurated under foreign supervision, and Korea had entered the Postal Union.
Thus it will be seen that, in spite of all domestic political complications and discouragements, the country was making
