It would be a great mistake, however, to suppose that Seoul had no other charms for us as visitors than the opportunity for delivering lectures and for witnessing, from outside and inside points of view, the human puppets which suppose themselves to be defeating the plans of that Supreme Ethical Spirit who shapes the destiny of nations, in partnership with those who partake of the spirit with which He inspires the “men of good-will.” The Court intrigues, and even the assassination of the Ministry, had little disturbing effect upon foreign business or foreign social life in the capital of Korea. With the former it made no difference of practical importance beyond the temporary check, perhaps, to some promoting scheme which depended upon the personality of the Court favorites for its Imperial support. There was no particular reason why society should heed such familiar occurrences. The weather was fine; the luxuriant bloom of the Korean spring and the vivid and changeful coloring of the mountains surrounding Seoul, invited to out-of-doors entertainments; and no foreigner’s life was then in any danger. For, as to the last feature favoring open-air sociability, the foreign visitor or resident need have little fear within the city walls, so long as the mob is not aroused and in control. Aside from one or two articles in the _Seoul Press_, and the grave rebukes of the Resident-General, I neither heard, nor heard of, any voice raised against the immorality and crime of political intrigue and political assassination. There was at the time no Savonarola or Martin Luther in Korea. But, then, in what part of America, or country of Europe, is such a prophet now to be found? In Korea, as elsewhere, politics and morals seemed only remotely related, even in the minds of the teachers of religion.