The outbreak of the war created a veritable storm of terror in the ranks of Korean officialdom. Many of its members who were known as Russian sympathizers fled to the country; a few took refuge in the houses of foreign friends. Palace circles were in particular profoundly agitated. There was a curious manifestation of the trend of the Korean official mind toward the belief that political support can be bought. Those were golden days for the foreigner who, willing to trade upon Korean ignorance and credulity, cared to let it be understood, either openly or tacitly, that his government would appreciate favors shown to himself. One foreign minister was surprised by the offer of a mining concession which before that he had unsuccessfully tried to obtain. Having due regard for his own and his country’s reputation he naturally declined. Others, private individuals, were not so scrupulous; and there are to-day extant exceptionally favorable public grants, both claimed and actually enjoyed, which were thus, as it has been put, “obtained in the shadow of the war.” At this time the Emperor was dominated by the influence of a courtier named Yi Yong-ik, whose foreign affiliations were wholly Russian. The Palace coterie, even including this man’s bitter political enemies, was almost entirely pro-Russian. But the Emperor was also, of course, much afraid of the Japanese, who were now near at hand, whereas the Russians and their Korean coadjutors had either fled the country or gone into retirement. For the time being, therefore, Japan had control of the Imperial environment. Meantime, one of two courses only seemed open to the Japanese themselves: they could either set aside the Emperor and his untrustworthy officials, and assume complete control of Korean affairs; or they could make some sort of arrangement which would secure an alliance with Korea. If faithful to this alliance, the Emperor would be assured of his personal safety and of his throne; and the country would be placed definitively under Japanese protection. The leaders in Japan knew perfectly well that His Korean Majesty was anti-Japanese and characteristically false and treacherous; but they hoped by moderation to win him over to at least a partial and temporary fulfilment of the obligations under which he would be placed by the adoption of the more friendly course.