a grave offense against the French government. This is most astonishing. We have never had any communication with France. We do not know even how far she is from Korea. What motive could we possibly have for injuring her? How would you act if a foreigner should enter your country secretly and in disguise and do what you consider evil? Would you leave him alone? If a Chinaman or a Manchu should come here and do as your people did they would be treated in the same manner as we did your people. In fact, we did put to death a Chinaman because he came here in disguise and changed his costume; and the Chinese government never said a word about it, for they knew this to be our law. Even had we known their nationality, their actions were so contrary to our laws that we could hardly have spared them, how much less then when we did know it. This matter hardly needs more explanation. Your letter was sent without the proper formalities and we are not bound to answer it. This is not a matter that a mere provincial governor can handle. As we are China’s vassal it is our duty to consult the court at Peking on all foreign matters. Tell this to your chief and do not be surprised that in order to show the true state of the case we have been led to speak thus plainly.” One needs but to read this to see that it is an unanswerable argument. From a merely political and legal point of view the Korean government had all the facts on her side, though from the standpoint of humanity they were wrong. It is strange that they omitted the strongest argument of all namely, that they asked the Frenchmen to leave and they refused. It is evident that by so doing they made themselves amenable to Korean law, and took the consequences, good or bad. One cannot admire enough the heroism which they displayed in staying to suffer with their coreligionists, though the opportunity was given them to save themselves by departure. It cannot be doubted that the rapid spread of Catholicism in Korea is due in large measure to the heroic self-sacrifice of those men and others like them, who literally gave their lives to the work. It would be wrong however to say that the government was wholly without excuse. From time immemorial death had been the penalty for crimes of far less import to the Korean mind than the spreading of heretical beliefs. With the light they had and the provocation under which they labored we should say they needed rather enlightenment than censure. This answer was not accepted as satisfactory by the French government and a rejoinder was sent saying that thereafter French subjects who should be taken on Korean soil must be sent to Peking, otherwise the Korean government would lay itself open to grave evils. But soon after this the revolution of 1848 took place in France and these eastern questions were all forgotten for the time being.