This Japanese colony was continued up to the year 1869 without intermission but it was not destined to remain undisturbed. No sooner had the Imperial government become established in Japan than the Emperor appointed a commission to approach the Korean government through the time-honored avenue of approach, namely Fusan and the prefect of Tong-nă, with a view to establishing closer commercial and diplomatic relations. This commissioner transacted the business through the Daimyo of Tsushima who sent the Imperial letter to the prefect of Tong-nă and asked that it be transmitted to the capital. After reading it the prefect refused to send it, on the plea that whereas Japan had always addressed Korea in terms of respect she now adopted a tone of superiority and called herself an Empire. The envoy urged that Japan had recently undergone a complete change, that she had adopted Western ideas and had centralised her government, and urged that the missive must be sent on to Seoul. The prefect was prevailed upon to copy the letter and send it on to the Regent but the Reply came back forthwith “We will not receive the Japanese letter. Drive the envoy away.” The following year the annual grant of rice was suddenly discontinued without a word of warning and the Japanese in Fusan were greatly exercised thereby. They made a loud outcry and their government made repeated attempts to come to an understanding with the Korean government but without success. It was in 1870 that the Japanese Hanabusa, called Wha-bang Eui-jil by the Koreans, came with an urgent request that a treaty of commerce be signed, but he was likewise unsuccessful. The King, however, was nearing the age when the Regent must hand over to him the reins of power and the Queen, a woman of natural ability and of imperious will, was gathering about her a faction which was wholly inimical to the plans and the tactics of the Regent. The latter found to his chagrin that the woman whom he had placed on the throne with his son with special reference to the cementing of his own power was likely to become the instrument of his undoing. Sure it is that in spite of the hatred which the Regent evinced against the Japanese this same Hanabusa came to Seoul in 1871 or early in 1872, in a quite unofficial manner, and was given quarters at the palace where he was in constant communication with the Queen and the members of her faction, and where, by exhibiting curious objects of western manufacture, such as a toy telephone and the like, he amused his royal patroness and won his way into the favor of the party that was shortly to step into the place made vacant by the retiring Regent.