On the other hand, this same factional and corrupt spirit among the ruling classes has made it certain that, “however good a statesman a man might be, the other side would try to get his head removed from his shoulders at the first opportunity; and the more distinguished he became, the greater this desire would be. From that time (again the middle of the sixteenth century) to this, almost all the really great men of Korea have met a violent death.”... “No matter how long one lives in this country, he will never get to understand how a people can possibly drop to such a low estate as to be willing to live without the remotest hope of receiving even-handed justice. Not a week passes but you come in personal contact with cases of injustice and brutality that would mean a riot in any civilized country.”[47] As to the public justice when administered by such a ruling class, this has actually been what might have been expected. The one judicial principle universally recognized is that justice is worth its price; the side which can offer the largest bribe of money or influence will uniformly win its case. Of justice in Korea, to quote from Mr. Hulbert again,[48] there is “not much more than is absolutely necessary to hold the fabric of the commonwealth from disintegration.” Until the Chino-Japan war, when Japanese influence made itself felt in a controlling way, the brutal spectacles were not infrequent of men having their heads hacked off with dull swords, or their bones broken by beating with a huge paddle. Death by poison with extract made by boiling the centipede was administered to prisoners. It was not till 1895 that the law was abolished which required the poisoning of mother, wife, and daughter for the man’s treason, the poisoning of wife for his crime of murder or arson, and the enslaving of wife for his theft. When the reformers of 1894 ordered the restoration to their lawful owners of the lands and houses which had been illegally seized, numerous officials—some of whom were well known in foreign circles as partners of concessions obtained through influence—lost large fractions of their wealth because of the decree.