In 1816, for the fifth time, the messenger of the Korean Church arrived in Peking, and the bishop, touched by their importunity, promised to send them a priest. Plans were arranged that he should be met and secretly taken into the country, for persecution still raged. The time came, but at the rendezvous the Koreans found no priest awaiting them; it had proved impossible to find any one willing to undertake the well-nigh hopeless mission. Years elapsed: they were all marked by the same record of faith and suffering, heroically borne, until the year 1827. Then followed three or four years of comparative peace, and the church steadily grew in numbers. A letter was sent by it to the Pope, beseeching him to send reinforcements to the suffering Christians. He forwarded the appeal to the directors of the “Missions Etrangères” in France, which had recently been re-established, after its destruction by Napoleon in 1805. The directors forwarded the appeal, making it known throughout their missions, with the result that Monseigneur Brugnière, a missionary in Siam, volunteered for the perilous task in a letter burning with apostolic love and zeal. His offer was accepted by the society, and after some delay he set out accompanied by a young Chinese priest, educated in Naples, who had also volunteered for the service. Three years were spent by them in weary journeyings without success, owing partly to the jealousy of a Chinese priest who had been sent meanwhile to Korea by the Sacrée Congrégation de la Propagande, and when at last the difficulties were on the eve of being overcome, Monseigneur Brugnière was taken suddenly ill and died on the very threshold of the promised land. In 1836 the first European missionary penetrated into the country, and he was soon followed by others in steady succession. Despite the ceaseless persecutions the number of Christians in 1838 was estimated at 9000. The following year a more violent persecution than ever broke out, and the three French missionaries were betrayed and executed, beside many Koreans of all ranks. The authorities were firmly resolved to exterminate them; but the attitude of the Korean people in general towards the Christians was no longer what it had been. Whereas previously they had been despised, now they were respected, for the people realised that there was a power in this religion which nothing could annihilate. The Christians had been decimated as to numbers, and such as had escaped destruction were reduced to a state of utter destitution, yet still they remained loyal to their convictions. The non-Christian Koreans came to the rescue and lent them the necessary grain to sow their fields, well assured that they would honestly repay the loan, unlike what would have been the case with some others of their fellow-countrymen.