The diplomats were harassed and anxious, and met constantly to discuss the situation. Of course the state of extreme tension was not caused solely by “happenings” in Korea and their local consequences. For behind this well-executed plot, and the diabolical murder of a defenceless woman, lay a terrible suspicion, which gained in strength every hour during the first few days after the tragedy till it intensified into a certainty, of which people spoke as in cipher, by hints alone, that other brains than Korean planned the plot, that other than Korean hands took the lives that were taken, that the sentries who guarded the King’s apartments while the deed of blood was being perpetrated wore other than Korean uniforms, and that other than Korean bayonets gleamed in the shadow of the Palace wall. People spoke their suspicions cautiously, though the evidence of General Dye and of Mr. Sabatin pointed unmistakably in one direction. So early as the day after the affair, the question which emerged was, “Is Viscount General Miura criminally implicated or not?” It is needless to go into particulars on this subject. Ten days after the tragedy at the Palace, the Japanese Government, which was soon proved innocent of any complicity in the affair, recalled and arrested Viscount Miura, Sugimura, and Okamoto, Adviser to the Korean War Department, who, some months later, along with forty-five others, were placed on their trial before the Japanese Court of First Instance at Hiroshima, and were acquitted on the technical ground that there was “no sufficient evidence to prove that any of the accused actually committed the crime originally meditated by them,” this crime, according to the judgment, being that two of the accused, “AT THE INSTIGATION OF MIURA, DECIDED TO MURDER THE QUEEN, and took steps by collecting accomplices ... more than ten others were directed by these two persons to do away with the Queen.” Viscount Miura was replaced by Mr. Komura, an able diplomatist, and shortly afterwards Count Inouye arrived, bearing the condolences of the Emperor of Japan to the unfortunate Korean King. A heavier blow to Japanese prestige and position as the leader of civilization in the East could not have been struck, and the Government continues to deserve our sympathy on the occasion. For when the disavowal is forgotten, it will be always remembered that the murderous plot was arranged in the Japanese Legation, and that of the Japanese dressed as civilians and armed with swords and pistols, who were directly engaged in the outrages committed in the Palace, some were advisers to the Korean Government and in its pay, and others were Japanese policemen connected with the Japanese Legation--sixty persons in all, including those known as _Soshi_, and exclusive of the Japanese troops.