Perang Dunia Timur. Jepang, Tiongkok, dan Korea/Bab 12

CAUSES OF THE WAR BETWEEN JAPAN AND CHINA.

Inception Must be Sought Far Back in History—Old Time Animosity Between the two Nations Chiefly Responsible—Formal Recognition of Corean Independence by Japan—The Riots of 1882 and Their Result—Return of the Corean Embassy from a Trip Around the World—Advance of American Ideas and Influence—Plots of the Progressionists—The Coup d'Etat and Its Fatal Results—Flight of the Conspirators to Japan and America—Decoying of Kim-ok-Kiun to Shanghai—Assassination of Kim—Rebellion in Northern Corea—Aid Asked From China—China Sends Troops—Violation of Treaty with Japan—Army from Japan Arrives—Japanese in the Capital—Scheme of Reform Proposed by Japan and Rejected by China—A Diplomatic Campaign.

In its broadest sense no war between nations can be ascribed to a single cause, defined by exact limits of time and place. A cause of war always suggests the question as to what has made it such; and so we find that for an intelligent understanding of the present war we have to go back, beyond the Corean rebellions of the early spring of 1894, and take in the whole range of the relations of China and Japan to Corea and to each other. An understanding of the history of the three nations is necessary to a proper understanding of the war.

The first formal recognition of Corean independence is found in the earliest treaty between Japan and Corea, that of 1876, by which the Coreans agreed to pay indemnity for an unwarranted attack which had been made upon a Japanese vessel, and to open several ports to Japanese traders. It was through this treaty that Corea was first introduced to the comity of nations. One of the professed objects of Japan during the war, has, therefore, been to establish the independence of Corea, which she has recognized in her treaties, against the Chinese claim of suzerainty. Sooner or later a war between Japan and China was inevitable. The hereditary animosities between the two nations have been aggravated by the marked differences which have arisen of late years between their civilizations; by the impatience under which Japan has struggled against an anomalous position among the powers, forced upon her by foreign treaties, while she has beheld her mediæval rival holding precedence and predominance; and by the jealousy and fanatic contempt with which the subjects of the “Son of Heaven” have watched the growing political aspirations of Japan, her conciliatory attitude towards foreigners, and her apostate abandonment of the manners and customs of oriental life.

For years, moreover, an excuse for a collision has been developing in the relations of the two states to Corea. In spite of the liberal sympathies of the Corean king himself, the ascendant force in the government has long been the Ming faction, to which family the queen belongs, which is pro-Chinese in its sympathies, foe to everything savoring of western liberal progress. Under the sway of this faction, which has monopolized the highest magistracies, government in Corea has been nothing more nor less than systematic plunder of the masses, for the benefit of a few privileged nobles. The admitted misgovernment of the country, which has always jeopardized the lives and property of aliens; the suzerain claims of China; the vast commercial interests of Japan in the peninsula and her large colonies; and finally the complicated treaty arrangements which have grown up between Tokio and Peking with regard to the “Hermit Kingdom”—these have long constituted a source of friction, in the knowledge of which the present conflict between the mandarins and the daimios is more readily understood. It is significant that while China has never formally given up her claim to lordship over Corea, she has refused to stand by her vassal on certain occasions, and has encouraged the latter to conduct negotiations on her own account. This was indeed the action of China in 1876, when the treaty with Japan was made, and the latter seized the opportunity to recognize the king of Corea as an independent sovereign prince. The immediate cause of the war is centered around the disputed question of the right of both parties to keep troops on Corean soil, a right which both have exercised more than once. It is the origin of this right and the complications that have arisen from it, that we must now trace with reference to the outbreak of the war.

Corea for ages has been the pupil of China, whence nearly everything that makes up civilization has been borrowed. Of patriotism in its highest sense, of pure love of country, of willingness to make sacrifices for native land, there have been little in the 423kingdom. Such things are new thoughts nourished by a few far-seeing patriots. But leavening the multitude of Confucian fanatics and time-servers of the men in power at Peking, there are also men who have drunk at other fountains of thought, entered new worlds of knowledge, and seen the light of modern science, of Christianity, and of western civilization in other lands. The numbers of enlightened men are increasing who believe in national progress, though to their demands there has ever been the defiance of vigilant conservation. Even within the two broadly defined parties, there are factional and family differences. Against the craft of the Ming clan the other noble families, Ni, So, Kim, Hong, and others, have been able to make headway only by adroit combination.

In 1875 the two noblemen Kim-ok-Kiun and So Kwang Pom secretly left Corea and went to Japan, being the first men of rank in recent times to travel in lands beyond China. On their return they sought the king and boldly told him what they had seen. Other noblemen followed their example, but the brother-in-law of the king, Pak Hong Hio, was the first who at risk of reputation and life openly advocated the adoption of western civilization. In 1882 Kim and So in earnest consideration of the opening of their country to modern ideas, endeavored to persuade Min Yong Ik to join them and also win over his powerful Ming relatives to a liberal policy. When this came to the ears of the Tai-wen Kun the young men were forthwith charged with intent to introduce Christianity, and the two liberals narrowly escaped being put to death by the old regent who had already shed the blood of thousands.

The men of the Ming faction held aloof from treaty negotiations with the United States until China gave the nod. When at last Li Hung Chang advised Corea to treat with Admiral Shufeldt, the Ming nobles obeyed and exhibited so much energy in the matter as to seem to foreigners to be the leaders of the party of progress. The old regent at once felt it his duty to overthrow both the Mings and the treaty. His opportunity came in July, 1882, the year of the treaties. When on account of the short rice crop the soldiers’ rations were cut down by the father of Min Yong Ik, the artful politician directed their revolt against this pro-Chinese 424family, and after destroying, as he imagined, the queen and the leading men of the Ming clan, he seized the government itself and for a few days enjoyed full power. When the news of the usurpation reached China and Japan there were in Tien-tsin three Corean nobles, Cho Yong Ha, Kim Yun Sik, and O-Yun Chung; and in Tokio Kim-ok-Kiun and So Kwang Pom. The former, notified by telegram from the Chinese consul at Nagasaki of the movements of the Japanese, obtained a Chinese military and naval force, and the ships of these two foreign nations met at Chemulpo. Before either the Chinese or Japanese troops were disembarked, the two groups of Corean noblemen had a conference, and after a long and warm discussion it was agreed to submit the question whether the Chinese should land and proceed to Seoul, to the king himself. Accordingly Kim-ok-Kiun in disguise penetrated to the capital, but only to find the royal person in possession of his old and chief enemy Tai-wen Kun, his friends driven away, and approach to the palace impossible. On learning the failure of Kim’s mission the Chinese force at once landed, marched to Seoul, abducted the regent, built forts to command the river against the Japanese, and established their camp inside the walls. This act of China gave her a new lien on Corea. The father of Min Yong Ik, Min Thai Ho, who had been supposed to have been mortally wounded, recovered and resumed office. Min Yong Ik, who after fleeing to the mountains, shaved his head and in the disguise of a priest had fled to Japan, returned smiling 425after temporary defeat. The queen, for whom a palace maid had suffered vicarious death, re-entered the capital and palace, and the star of the Mings was again in the ascendant.

Two years later, in June, 1884, Min Yong Ik and So Kwang Pom, the first Coreans to go around the world, reached home followed by Kim-ok-Kiun and the Tokio students from Japan. After an enthusiastic reception of the returned envoys and the American officers of the Trenton in Seoul, the public opinion in favor of progress was greatly stimulated. Min Yong Ik was made vice-president of the Foreign Office and the others of the embassy were elevated in rank. The Chinese military instructors were dismissed by the king. A model farm sown with American seeds, and for which California live stock was ordered, Edison electric lights, American rifles and Gatling guns, Japanese artisans to establish potteries and other industries, gave indications of the new path of national progress upon which Corea had entered.

Min Yong Ik while abroad has passed for an enlightened man, susceptible to modern ideas and in favor of opening Corea to commerce. Yet falling under the influence of his clan he had been home but a few weeks when he came to open rupture with Hong Yong Sik. Resigning from the foreign office he assumed command of the palace guard battalion and restored Chinese drill masters, the military students from Japan being left to gain their support as subordinates in the proposed postal department. By autumn the late envoy to the United States had surrounded himself with Chinese and pro-Chinese conservatives, the progressive men had been hampered in their action, and the revenues for the promised enterprises and industries had been diverted to warlike preparations, that looked as if Corea, as a vassal, was to help China against France in the Tonquin complication.

The situation in Seoul became alarming. A state of hostility existed between the leaders of the two political parties, one of which had at their call a rabble of rapacious militia, eager to try their new tools upon their hereditary enemies, the Japanese, while the other knew full well the sterling quality of the little body of Japanese infantry. Fifteen hundred Chinese soldiers were still in the camp under General Yuen. In such a situation, the government being in the hands of their rivals and committed to 426the pro-Chinese policy, the liberals felt that their heads were likely to remain on their shoulders only so long as it pleased their enemies to bring no charge against them. In nations without representative institutions, revolutions and outbreaks must be expected when a change of policy is decided upon.

Let us see how the Corean liberals attempted, when beset and thwarted, to save their own lives and reverse the policy of the government. On October 25, one of the liberal leaders intimated to an American that “for the sake of Corea” about ten of the prominent conservatives “would have to be killed.” The idea was to remove their rivals by removing the heads of the same, seize the government, inaugurate new schemes of progress, open new ports, and otherwise commit Corea to the same course as that upon which Japan had entered. They supposed that the treaty powers would condone and approve their action, make further favorable treaties, and loan money for national improvement. Further, they claimed to have had the royal sanction. The autumn passed by and the moment seemed ripe for the plot. China, pressed by France, had withdrawn half her troops from Seoul, and Japan, with a view to strengthening her influence in the peninsula, had a few days before remitted $400,000 of the indemnity exacted for the riot of 1882. The time to strike a blow for Corean independence and to break the shackles of China forever seemed to have come.

On the evening of December 4, the foreign envoys and several high officers of the government were invited to a banquet to celebrate the inauguration of the postal service. When it was nearly over, an alarm of fire was given from the outside, according to arrangement of the conspirators, and Min Yong Ik, going out to look, was set upon by assassins, but instead of being killed as was intended, was only wounded. Thereupon the liberal leaders hastened to the palace, and assuring the king that he was in great danger, in his name sent to the Japanese minister for the Japanese legation guard. At the same time the conservative leaders were summoned, as they supposed by the king; as fast as they stepped out of their sedan chairs at the palace gates, they were relieved of their heads. Meanwhile the Japanese infantry commanded the inner gates of the palace, and during the next 427day the new ministers of government, the liberals whose names have already become familiar to us, prepared edicts to be issued by the king reforming ancient abuses and customs, and instituting new and radical measures of national policy. The city was in a state of commotion, but despite the surging crowd no actual outbreak occurred.

On the morning of the 6th the cry was raised “death to the Japanese,” and then began a wild revelry of outrage, butchery, and incendiarism, in which the newly-trained militia were conspicuous. The white foreigners in Seoul, nine in number, of whom three were ladies, had gathered at the American legation, which under Lieutenant Bernadon’s directions was put in a state of defense. In it twenty-two Japanese also found refuge.

That afternoon the Chinese troops, six hundred strong, commanded by General Yuen and backed by three thousand Coreans, 428moved upon the palace to drive out the Japanese. With superb discipline and skill Captain Murakami and his little band drove off their assailants, and through the narrow streets reached the legation at 8:00 P.M. after forty-eight hours’ absence. The score of soldiers left behind, aided by the hundred or so of civilians who had gathered within, had successfully defended the enclosure from the mob. Provisions being exhausted, the Japanese with admirable coolness, discipline, and success began the march to the sea on the afternoon of the next day. Despite hostile soldiery with rifles and cannon, armed men firing from roof and wall, barred city gates, and a mob following them to the Han river, they crossed with their wounded and reached Chemulpo on the morning of the 8th. There they were fed by the sailors of the men-of-war, while a Japanese steamer carried the news to Nagasaki.

The short-lived liberal government came to an end after an existence of less than forty-eight hours. Hong Yong Sik, refusing to leave the king, was taken with him to the Chinese camp and there beheaded. The other conspirators fled to Japan, whence they were demanded by the Corean ministerial council, which demand was by the Japanese promptly refused. The torture and trial of twelve persons implicated in the affair was concluded January 27, 1885, and eleven were executed in the usual barbarous manner. Their bodies were chopped in pieces and the flesh and bones distributed in fragments through the streets of the city and the different provinces. The refugees ultimately reached America, except Kim-ok-Kiun who settled in Japan.

Count Inouye of Japan and Kim Hong Chip of Corea on January 9; and Inouye and Li Hung Chang, of China, on May 7 concluded conventions by which the troubles were settled. The chief points in the diplomacy were the payment of indemnity by Corea to Japan, and a joint agreement between China and Japan to withdraw their troops. Both camps were emptied on the 20th, and on the 21st of May the troops left Chemulpo for their respective countries. October 5 the Tai-wen Kun, now sixty-eight years old, but fresh as a man of forty and able as ever to be a disturbing element, returned from China and re-entered Seoul 429under a guard of Chinese warriors and many thousands of Coreans.

The affair was in its origin an anti-Chinese uprising of radical progressives, but in its ending an anti-Japanese demonstration. About three hundred lives were lost by battle and murder. The conduct of the American minister, General Foote, during this trying occasion, was most admirable, and the legation, which sheltered all the foreigners and many Japanese, was kept open and the American flag was never lowered.

Even in these troublous times a way was opened for the entrance of western science and reformed Christianity. Dr. Henry N. Allen, a missionary physician from Ohio, was called upon to attend Min Yong Ik and the wounded Chinese soldiers. The superiority of modern methods being at once manifest, the government became interested, and the dwelling occupied by Hong Yong Sik, who had been beheaded, was set aside as a hospital under Dr. Allen’s charge. From that time forward several missionaries from American churches have entered active work in Corea, and three American young men engaged by the Corean government as teachers have begun to devise an educational system for the kingdom. There are now native Christian churches in Seoul, a hospital, schools, orphanages, and a college. Americans were chosen as advisers and assistants of the nation. Three military officers to organize her army, naval officers to inaugurate a navy, commissioners of customs, and a counsellor in the foreign office were among these.

Renouncing the idea of the suzerainty of China over Corea, the king and government sent embassies to Japan, Europe, and the United States, to establish permanent legations. This movement was opposed by the Chinese, and especially by the Minister Yuen in an active, impudent, and even villainous manner. Yuen, who led the Chinese troops during the riot of December, 1884, and who escorted the Tai-wen Kun to Corea, is believed to have plotted to dethrone the king and set up another son of the old regent as a pro-Chinese partisan on the throne. Expecting to make use of the Corean military, whom he had drilled in person, his plot was exposed by Min Yong Ik. To checkmate any design of China, to prevent the departure of the envoys, or to convert 430her nominal authority into assertions of sovereignty or suzerainty, the Honorable Hugh N. Densmore, our minister, by the orders of the United States government, invited the embassy to take passage from Chemulpo in the United States Steamship Omaha, which was done. In charge of Dr. H.N. Allen, Pak Chung Yang, a noble of the second rank, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the king of Corea, arrived in Washington and had audience of President Cleveland in January, 1888.

When Kim-ok-Kiun, the leader of the insurrection of 1884, fled to Japan, he was welcomed by the Japanese and received as a protege of the emperor. Repeated demands were made by Corea upon the mikado to surrender him, and the demands were as repeatedly refused. In the spring of 1894 he was lured by means of a dummy draft on a non-existing bank in China, to Shanghai, where on March 28, at the Japanese hotel, and in the absence of his Japanese attendant, he was foully murdered by his pretended friend, Hong Tjyong On, a tool of the Ming faction. This man had been in the employ of the Ming faction of the Corean government with the mission of the assassination entrusted to him, and if the crime was not committed by order of the king of Corea, as was popularly believed, it was surely by order of the queen, who has been strong in her influence. The murderer was arrested; but instead of being tried by the Chinese was handed over to a Corean official, who, with the assassin and the corpse, was sent to Corea. There in spite of the protestations of foreign representatives, the body of Kim was horribly mutilated, parts of it being sent to the different provinces, while the murderer was rewarded with high official honor.

This murder of a Corean by another Corean in a port under Chinese jurisdiction, though coupled with the subsequent brutalities at Seoul, could not be made a subject of diplomatic remonstrance; but it served in Japan to rouse the deepest public indignation and intense disgust. The Japanese government was not only outraged by the assassination of Kim, but by the conduct of Yu, the Corean minister at Tokio. Two brothers named Ken, at the time of Kim’s murder, attempted to bring the same fate upon Boku Eiko, Kim’s fellow conspirator. Their plot having been discovered, they fled to Yu for protection. For 433three days he refused to give them up, but finally surrendered them and took a hasty and undignified departure from the country. The Japanese foreign office, having in vain sought an explanation of the motives of the king of Corea in connection with Kim’s assassination, and of the precipitate and undiplomatic flight of the Corean representative, was glad to seize the first opportunity which arose before long, when other events occurred which gave Japan occasion to act.

For some time past the peninsular kingdom has been in a disturbed condition, owing to the spread of rebellious confederacies among the people. There was now quite a general uprising of Coreans, caused by their want of sympathy with the government, and focussed by their indignation at the horrible fate of Kim. In May, a formidable peasant uprising occurred in northern Corea, caused mainly by the official extortion practiced by tax-gatherers, but having in it elements of remonstrance against the assassination of Kim. The government troops were defeated May 16 at Reisan; and on May 31 Zenshu fell into the hands of the insurgents. Later Chung Jui was captured, and Seoul, the capital, was in a state of great commotion. The discovery of a plot to blow up the government building during the annual official meeting of the king and his ministers caused immense excitement. The plot was confessed by one of the conspirators, and warrants were issued for the arrest of one thousand persons implicated or suspected.

In alarm the government appealed to China for assistance, and early in June an armed Chinese force numbering about two thousand was dispatched, from Chefoo to Asan, a port lying a little southwest of Seoul, where it encamped.

In the treaty of Tien-tsin, both Japan and China agreed to withdraw their troops from the peninsula, neither power to send soldiers thither again, without giving to the other power preliminary notice of the intended action. In the present struggle, Japan has declared from the beginning that she intended to carry her action into Corea no further than the treaty of 1885 allowed, and the necessity for restoring order and stability required her to do. When these troops were sent, the stipulated notification to Japan it is declared, was delayed until after their departure. 434Actuated by distrust of Chinese motives, and looking to the protection of her commercial interests and the safety of the Japanese residents and traders in Corea, the authorities at Tokio quickly followed by landing a force of six thousand troops on the western coast. A strong force was soon stationed in Seoul, for the protection of the Japanese legation, and the approaches to the capital were securely occupied.

Then began the diplomatic campaign, Japan seizing the opportunity offered to insist on a final understanding with both China and the Corean government, regarding the matters which had long been the source of friction, and a constant menace to tranquility in the peninsula. On June 28 a communication passed between Mr. Otori, the Japanese minister, and the Corean foreign office, regarding the tributary relations between Corea and China. To this the Corean government returned an evasive reply. July 3, Mr. Otori laid before the Corean government in a courteously worded note, the draft of a scheme of reforms which Japan proposed, as a remedy for the disorders of the country, under the following five general heads:

1. The civil government in the capital and in the provinces to be thoroughly reformed, and the departments arranged on a new basis under proper responsible heads.

2. The resources of the country to be developed, mines opened, railways constructed, etc.

3. The laws of the country to be radically reformed.

4. The military establishments to be reorganized under competent instructors, so as to render the country secure alike from internal disorder and external attack.

5. Education to be thoroughly reformed on modern lines.

Mr. Otori asked for the appointment of a commission to discuss details, and on July 10, unfolded before the three commissioners, in twenty-five proposals, the details of the contemplated reforms. They were of such a character as to weaken greatly the influence of the queen and the dominant Ming party. Personages of too great influence were to be removed; the foreign customs establishment to be abolished; all foreign advisers to be dispensed with; the resources of the country to be developed; railways, telegraphs and a mint to be established; the legal and judicial systems to be radically reformed, and a school system to be adopted, beginning with primary schools and culminating in universities, with provisions for sending pupils abroad.

These reforms were declared to be as essential to the true welfare of Corea and China, as to the interests of Japan. It being impossible, however, for the Coreans to effect them themselves, Japan proposed joint action on the part of herself and China with a view to the desired object. This proposal however, China curtly refused even to discuss, so long as any Japanese troops remained in Corea. She assured Japan that the peasant rebellion had been quieted, which was true in a sense, for the insurgents, after the landing of the Chinese regulars, had temporarily stayed their onward progress; but the cause of the trouble still remained. From the moment of this deadlock we may date the unofficial beginning of the war. The formal declaration was not made until about two weeks later.