Beside the death-bed of King Ch‘ŭl-jong.... a bold woman.... rise of the Tong-hak.... its founder killed.... the King’s father becomes regent.... his two mistakes.... he selects a Queen.... Russian request.... the Regent pushed by the conservative party.... death-warrant of.... Bishop Berneux.... French priests executed.... priceless manuscript lost.... a French priest escapes to China and tells the news.... China advises Korea to make peace.... shipwreck of the “Surprise”.... face of the “General Sherman”.... persecution renewed.... French reconnoitering expedition.... blockade of the Han announced.... French expedition under Admiral Roze.... preparations for defense.... correspondence.... French defeat.... the French retire Koreans exultant.... persecution redoubled.... the Kyŭng-bok Palace rebuilt.... American expedition under Admiral Rodgers.... American victory on Kang-wha.... the fleet retires.... monument erected in Seoul. The events of the present reign, which began in January 1864, are fresh in the memory of many still living, and the account here given is taken largely from statements of eye-witnesses of the scenes therein described. A detailed history of the present reign would fill a volume in itself and of course we can but briefly touch upon the leading events in it. The circumstances which ushered in the reign are graphically described by Dallet and are substantially as follows. King Ch’ŭl-jong had been suffering for some time with a pulmonary affection, but in January of 1864 he seemed better and he began to walk about a little. On the fifteenth, feeling greater uneasiness than usual, he went into his garden for a walk. There he was suddenly taken with faintness and was just able to drag himself back to his room, where he fell in a dying condition. The Minister Kim Choa-geun, his son Kim Pyŭng-gu and three other relatives were immediately in attendance. As they were deliberating, the nephew of the Dowager Queen Cho, widow of the King Ik-jong, happened to pass, and seeing what was going on, he hastened to his aunt’s apartments and exclaimed, “What are you doing here? The king is dead.” He advised her to hasten to the king’s apartments, gain possession of the royal seals and nominate to the throne some one of her choice, declaring him to be the son and heir of King Ik-jong, her husband. This woman thereupon hastened to the side of the expiring king where she found the attendants, as we have said, and with them the queen, who held the royal seals in a fold of her skirt. The Dowager Queen peremptorily demanded these seals, and when the queen demurred she snatched them violently from her. No one dared oppose the determined woman who thus took fortune by the forelock and in the course of a moment turned the course of empire. She then made proclamation in the name of the king, saying “The king says the royal seals shall be in charge of Queen Cho.