It should also be remembered that this state of things in the Court of Korea was not at all in spite of the Emperor, but was rather of his own choosing. Indeed, his character and habit of conducting his Imperial office was the principal effective reason for the perpetuation of such corruption. The signs of this stream of evil influence are by no means all concealed. Every day of my stay in Seoul I was witness to the line of jinrikishas, and the procession of pedestrians—many of a by no means prepossessing appearance—along the lane on which stands the gate through which those seeking audience were passing in to the palace enclosure. As to foreigners who, in person, are introduced to the Emperor, the Japanese Government had then a practically efficient control. But for Korean subjects, and for foreigners using Koreans to further their schemes, there was at that time still abundant access. And the number of those who visited this “prisoner in his palace” was frequently advertised in the daily news as counted by scores and by hundreds. To leave his “prison” and go out upon the streets of Seoul otherwise than on those rare ceremonial occasions when everything is _prepared_ beforehand, would have been for His Majesty to break with the etiquette of centuries. Now, however, that the Japanese are in much more complete control, the freedom of the Emperor’s movements is greatly enlarged. I shall not easily forget how the contrast between the new forces of spiritual uplift and the old forces of intellectual and moral degradation came over me, as I was present one Sunday at the morning service of the Methodist church, which stands just across the way from the palace enclosure. The combined congregations gathered here numbered an audience of more than one thousand, nearly one half of which were children. Bishop Ross preached a short and simple sermon, Dr. Jones interpreting. Several of the American delegates to the great missionary Conference in China, on their way homeward, were present, surprised and rejoicing in the size and enthusiasm of the Korean multitude of hearers. The girls from one of the schools patronized by Lady Om (whose true history is told in Mr. Angus Hamilton’s book, and who is now euphemously styled the “Emperor’s consort”), which had recently been complained of by the English edition of the _Korean Daily News_ for “being used to foster allegiance to Japan,” were singing “I surrender all to Jesus.” But what was then being done a few yards distant, just over the palace wall, where were living a collection of as vulgar, ignorant, corrupt, and murderous men and women as were to be found anywhere in so-called “heathendom”? How the intrigue and deceitfulness, combined with weakness, of the Korean Emperor and his Korean and foreign friends, terminated with the commission to The Hague Peace Conference is now a matter of history. As such, it demands a further study in its historical origins and historical setting.