Though many conferences with the Cabinet took place, there was no result. The Koreans stood fast for the treaty of 1904 in which Japan guaranteed independence. Not a member of the Cabinet consented. It is unnecessary to go into all the painful details, but at last by surrounding the Cabinet and the palace with soldiers, by having previously secured the consent of two or three men who were venal, after repeated efforts and long discussions, show of armed force and having forcibly removed Han Kyu Sul, the strong Prime Minister (without whose signature no measure can be legally passed) they managed to gain a majority of one, and the seal being illegally fixed by the envoy, the fact was declared accomplished and the authorities immediately announced in Washington that Korea had voluntarily entered into an agreement granting Japan a protectorate. The American government almost immediately recognized Japan’s claim and removed the Legation from Seoul. The petition of the Emperor arrived in Washington before action had been taken, but though its arrival was announced to the President, it was not received till too late. “For twenty-five years American representatives and residents had been reiterating that we stood for right against mere brute force, and Korea had a right to regard our government as the one above all others to demur at any encroachment on her independence. But when the time of difficulty approached we deserted her with such celerity, such cold-heartedness and such refinement of contempt, that the blood of every decent American citizen boiled with indignation. While the most loyal, patriotic, cultured of Korean nobility were committing suicide one after another, because they would not survive the death of their country, the American Minister (Mr. Morgan) was toasting the perpetrators in bumpers of champagne, utterly indifferent to the death throes of an empire which had treated American citizens with a courtesy and consideration they had enjoyed in no other Oriental country.”[9] [9] Hulbert’s “Passing of Korea.” News of this action was carried that night to the editors of one of the Korean dailies. They worked all night, well knowing that the result of their action would be confiscation of their presses and imprisonment at least, but thousands of copies of the paper containing a detailed report of all that had happened were in the hands of the people scattered broadcast beyond possibility of recall before the Japanese were aware. Every effort was made to destroy this publication and to prevent the spread of this story to other countries but it was too late. Members of the Cabinet and Court told the story to Americans, and though there existed a rigid censorship of telegraph lines and mails, it was carried by foreigners to China, so that even in the minds of those who lend the most willing ear to the story told by the Japanese, there must always remain at least a moiety of doubt.