GOING TO THE LECTURE AT INDEPENDENCE HALL 52 WATER-GATE AT PYENG-YANG 100 WEST GATE OR “GATE OF GENEROUS RIGHTEOUSNESS” 132 PEONY POINT AT PYENG-YANG 184 THE TONG-KWAN TAI-KWOL PALACE 206 THE EX-EMPEROR AND PRESENT EMPEROR 284 THE HALL OF CONGRATULATIONS 306 STREET SCENE IN SEOUL 330 THE STONE-TURTLE MONUMENT 384 FUNERAL PROCESSION IN SEOUL 408 _PART I_ A NARRATIVE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCES CHAPTER I THE INVITATION It was in early August of 1906 that I left New Haven for a third visit to Japan. Travelling by the way of the Great Lakes through Duluth and St. Paul, after a stay of two weeks in Seattle, we took the Japanese ship _Aki Maru_ for Yokohama, where we arrived just before the port was closed for the night of September 20. Since this ship was making its first trip after being released from transport service in conveying the Japanese troops home from Manchuria, and was manned by officers who had personal experiences of the war to narrate, the voyage was one of uncommon interest. Captain Yagi had been in command of the transport ship _Kinshu Maru_ when it was sunk by the Russians, off the northeastern coast of Korea. He had then been carried to Vladivostok, and subsequently to Russia, where he remained in prison until the end of the war. Among the various narratives to which I listened with interest were the two following; they are repeated here because they illustrate the code of honor whose spirit so generally pervaded the army and navy of Japan during their contest with their formidable enemy. It is in reliance on the triumph of this code that those who know the nation best are hopeful of its ability to overcome the difficulties which are being encountered in the effort to establish a condition favorable to safety, peace, and prosperity by a Japanese Protectorate over Korea.