It was to further a peaceful adjustment of all the disturbed condition of the interests of Russia and Japan in the Far East that Marquis Ito went, on his way home from his visit to the United States, at the end of 1901, on an unofficial mission to St. Petersburg. The failure of the overtures which he bore discouraged those of the leading Japanese statesmen who were hoping for some reconciliation which might take the shape of allowing Russian ascendency in Manchuria and Japanese ascendency in Korea. It also strengthened the conviction which prevailed among the younger statesmen that the St. Petersburg Government regarded Manchuria as not only its fortress in the Far East, but also as its path to the peninsula lying within sight of Japan’s shores. “The Japanese Government,” says Mr. D. W. Stevens, “at last felt that the vital interests of Japan might be irrevocably jeopardized in Korea as well as in Manchuria, if it continued to remain a mere passive spectator of Russian encroachments; and in August, 1903, it resolved to take a decisive step. In the most courteous form and through the usual diplomatic channels Japan intimated at St. Petersburg that her voice must be heard, and listened to, in connection with Far Eastern questions in which her interests were vitally concerned.” The answer of Russia was the appointment of Admiral Alexeieff as Viceroy over the Czar’s possessions in the Far East, with executive and administrative powers of a semi-autocratic character. But let us return to Korea and inquire: What was the policy with which its Emperor and his Court met the exceedingly critical situation into which the country was being forced by the conflict going on between Russia and Japan both within, and just outside of, its borders? The answer is not dubious. It was the policy, in yet more aggravated form, of folly, weakness, intrigue, and corruption, both in the administration of internal affairs and also in the management of the now very delicate foreign relations. The Emperor was—to use the descriptive phrase of another—enjoying “an orgy of independence.” The former restraints which had been imposed upon him by Chinese domination, by the personal influence of the Tai Won Kun, or of the Queen, by his fears of the reformers, and even by any passive emotional impulses of his own, leading to reformation, were now all removed. While he was a “guest” at the Russian Legation there was certainly no direct influence exerted by his hosts, to assist, advise, or guide him into better ways. It was not the policy of Russia to effect—at least for the present or immediately prospective occasion—any moral betterment of the administration of Korean home and foreign affairs. Under the regency of his father, the Government had been cruel, despotic, and murderous toward both native and foreign Christians. But the Tai Won Kun had some regard for ancient common laws and usages. Under him the people were reasonably sure of such