In 1831 Pope Gregory XVI had made Korea a bishopric and appointed M. Bruguiere as Bishop. A Chinaman named Yu who was then in Europe was appointed to accompany him to Korea. This man Yu went ahead and found means of entering Korea secretly. M. Bruguiere worked three years in the attempt to enter the country by way of the north across the Yalu and at last died on the very border. Yu who had preceeded him desired to hold supreme power in the Korean church, and so put obstacles in the way of the entrance of the Bishop. But in the following year Pierre Philibert Maubant, who had been appointed to Korea, succeeded in entering the country and began work in Seoul at once, but of course in secret. By 1837 two other French priests had arrived, including Bishop Imbert. It is said that at the time of his arrival there were 9,000 adherents of the Roman Catholic church. While the king was still but fourteen years old, in 1839, there occurred a cruel persecution of the Catholics. Three foreigners were in Korea, as we have seen, and they were known to the Koreans as Pöm Se-hyŭng, Na-bă Do-ru and Chöng-ă Kak-bak-i. The persecution began as usual with a change of ministry. Yi Chi-ŏn became Prime Minister. He hated Christianity and averred that the reason why there were so many Christians was that the work of extermination had not been thoroughly carried out in 1801. He demanded a house to house inspection. This was done and soon the prisons were full to overflowing. Hundreds were cruelly beaten, but the yamen-runners were not allowed to loot the houses of the prisoners, which cooled their ardor not a little. Finally the three foreigners were arrested. Being ordered to leave the country they firmly refused. Thereupon they were declared high criminals and were executed on Sept. 21st, 1839. This was followed by still severer persecutions and even the Koreans themselves grew tired of the horrors that were enacted. It is said that seventy were decapitated and that sixty died of beating and strangulation. This is but a fraction however of those who perished in consequence of this persecution. The last ten years of the reign were marked principally by events connected with the Roman Catholic propaganda. In 1844 two more French priests entered the country by way of Quelpart after a most difficult and hazardous passage from China in a Korean junk. Two years later the French government sent a message to Korea by a gun-boat, complaining of the death of the three Frenchmen and threatening her with punishment if these cruel actions were continued. This only excited the Koreans the more against Christianity, for it seemed to imply that Roman Catholicism had behind it a temporal power, and was therefore of political significance. In consequence of this a new outbreak occurred which cost the lives of several more Koreans, while the two priests were obliged to hide away very closely in the country.