The extraneous evidence of the power of the Japanese irritates the Koreans, increasing the unconquerable aversion which has inspired them against the Japanese through centuries, until, of the various races of foreigners in Korea at the present, none are so deservedly detested as those hailing from the Island Empire of the Mikado. Nor is this prejudice remarkable, when it is considered that it is the scum of the Japanese nation that has settled down upon Korea. It is, perhaps, surprising that the animus of the Koreans against the Japanese has not died out with time; but the fault lies entirely with the Japanese themselves. Within recent years so much has occurred to alter the position of Japan and to flatter the vanity of these island people that they have lost their sense of perspective. Puffed up with conceit, they now permit themselves to commit social and administrative excesses of the most detestable character. Their extravagant arrogance blinds them to the absurdities and follies of their actions, making manifest the fact that their gloss of civilisation is the merest veneer. Their conduct in Korea shows them to be destitute of moral and intellectual fibre. They are debauched in business, and the prevalence of dishonourable practices in public life makes them indifferent to private virtue. Their interpretation of the laws of their settlements, as of their own country, is corrupt. Might is right; the sense of power is tempered neither by reason, justice nor generosity. Their existence from day to day, their habits and their manners, their commercial and social degradation, complete an abominable travesty of the civilisation which they profess to have studied. It is intolerable that a Government aspiring to the dignity of a first-class Power should allow its settlements in a friendly and foreign country to be a blot upon its own prestige, and a disgrace to the land that harbours them.