Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 385

CHOSEN

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a greatly ad-

and vocabulary there are great differences. Chosen was once vanced nation, from which the Japanese learned many arts and crafts, and indeed the rudiments of the ancient Chinese civilisation, but she seems never to have enjoyed any political importance. Situated between China in the west and Japan in the east, her rulers seem ever to have been involved in intrigue and scheming to keep in with the stronger party. For centuries she paid tribute to Peking, while preserving a nominal independence and pur- suing a policy of exclusion to all foreigners other than Chinese. After the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the Japanese were anxious to break down this exclusive barrier, and in 1876 succeeded in entering into a treaty of amity and commerce. Although China assented to this and to subsequent treaties with other foreign powers (with America, 1882; with Britain, 1883; with Ger- many and Russia, 1884, etc.), thus acknowledging Chosen's complete indepen- dence, she nevertheless continued inconsistently to claim suzerainty. Con- siderable intrigues were centred round the Korean throne, and there were frequent clashes between Chinese soldiery and Japanese residents. The Tien- tsin Treaty of 1885 provided that both Japanese and Chinese should withdraw their troops from Korean soil, nor should enter either party in future despatch troops there without notifying the other. It was China's ignoring the terms: of this treaty in 1894 when appealed to by the Korean Governmet for help against the Tonghak rebellion, and the subsequent counterface of Korea to- wards Japan asking for help to expel the Chinese, that led to the Sino-Japanese War. The next phase saw Russian influence to the fore and in 1904 came the Russo-Japanese War, as a result of which Russia was forced to acknow- ledge Japan's paramount interest in Korea. The internal administration of Korea being notoriously corrupt, Japan established a protectorate over Korea by a treaty (Nov. 1905), when the great statesman Prince Ito was appointed Resident-General. More and more power passed into Japanese hands, and after the successive assassinations of Mr. Stevens, the American diplomatic adviser appointed by Japanese nomination, at San Francisco, of Prince Ito himself at Harbin in October, 1909, and of Mr. Yi, the Korean premier, the Japanese decided that the protectorate plan would not work, and on August 22nd, 1910, was signed the treaty by which Korea was annexed to Japan. Korean Imperial family were given Japanese titles of Royalty and suitable allowances, and the Government General was set up in Seoul. During 1918-19 there was a widespread movement amongst the Koreans to recover their in- dependence, and a deputation proceeded to Paris to place their claim before the Peace Conference, but arrived too late. The methods adopted by the Japanese to suppress the insurrections that broke out were subjected to grave criticism for their alleged brutality and severity, though the authorities did their best to suppress all information of a damaging nature: but since then the former militaristic policy has been largely abandoned, and the system of gendarmes for the most place replaced by a civilian police force.

The

The task before Japan when she took over the reins of government was no mean one, but she tackled it with characteristic energy, and already much has been achieved. She has established a well-organised judicial system, with trained judges, and the work of codifying laws proceeds apace. By a series. of progressive steps, local self-government has now been established. In July, 1920, advisory bodies, in the form of Provincial, Municipal and Urban and Rural District Councils. were created, and in December, 1930, an Ordinance was published transforming, within well-defined limits, these Councils into self-governing bodies. The first elections under the new system for the Muni- cipal and Urban District Councils were held in May, 1931. Reform of the financial administration has received a great deal of attention. In 1919 for the first time no subsidy was needed from the Imperial Government, but in subsequent years owing to various administrative reforms it has been necessary for an Imperial grant to be made, usually of about Yen 15,000,000, which was the sum in 1929. In the sphere of education, following on the establish- ment of elementary schools on Japanese lines throughout the country, consi- derable advance has been made in the development of higher education, cul-

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