The most brilliant speaker at the great international conference in Tokio two years ago was unanimously by Japanese newspapers conceded to be a Korean, and an American told the writer that the grandest sermon he had ever listened to--and he had heard John Hall and the great Western divines--was preached in Korea by another Korean. The writer also recalls at this moment still two others who are capable of carrying any audience along enraptured, and whom she would not hesitate to rank with the best, most inspiring public speakers she has ever listened to. We know many Koreans who have been given opportunity, environment, advantage, who have ability, energy, initiative and resource equal to that of the foremost Americans and Europeans. They are not, perhaps, _par excellence_, fighters like the Japanese or merchants like the Chinese. They have not the volatility and headlong impulsiveness of the one nor the stolid conservatism of the other, but they are the equals if not the superiors of either. Which of the three evolved an alphabet and a constitutional form of government? This is the conscientious opinion of one who has known them for twenty years, closely, in every-day contact, through all sorts of circumstances, in city and country, and it is an opinion almost the opposite of that which was formed during the first years of acquaintance with them. It is the result of the developments of character seen in individuals and the nation. That they are friendly, hospitable, long-suffering, patient, any one who studies them without prejudice for a short time will admit, but those of us who know them best know that they have brilliant gifts and a high grade of intellectuality. The old simile of the rough diamond is a good one to apply to Koreans who seem perhaps worthless stones to the ignorant careless observer, but, when polished, they shine as brilliant jewels for the Redeemer’s crown. Considerable space has been given to this question of Korean ability because much has been made of the other side, as an excuse for what might be thought otherwise inexcusable, and because it is right that the public should know they are not unworthy of its sympathy and interest. Nor should they be called cowardly because taken unaware by the rapid succession of cataclysmic political events which have whirled them along during the last few years. The “Morning Calm” is forever gone. Korea has for many years been in a diplomatic way a sort of football between Japan, China and Russia, and in 1903 affairs were rapidly culminating toward the Russo-Japanese war. Yi Yong Ik, the Korean prime minister, who had then lately returned from Port Arthur and was zealously pro-Russian, like most of the court and officials, now began a series of attacks on Japanese interests.