At this time the administration of the government was anything but exemplary. The selling of the same office at such short intervals increased the burden on the people to an almost unbearable point, so that there were frequent uprisings in country districts. In Korea the people form the court of final appeal. If a prefect oversteps the line which marks the limit of the people’s endurance and they drive him from the place the government ordinarily accepts it as final. The following year the government was obliged to take notice of this state of things and the king sent out a proclamation saying that the taking of bribes and the extortion of money in the provinces would be severely punished. He took this opportunity also to speak about robbery and gambling, which had begun to run rife in the land. The people were forbidden to dress in silk, excepting those over fifty years of age. The year 1890 opened with serious trouble in Ham-gyŭng Province. Cho Pyŭng-sik, a man of indomitable will and one whose unbridled temper had more than once gotten him into serious trouble, was governor in that province. The people had mortgaged their bean crop to the Japanese exporters, of Wŭn-san, and had received some $176,000 therefor. But when the beans had been harvested and were ready for shipment the governor forbade its delivery. He wanted the Japanese to sell it back to the people, as it was a year of scarcity, but this they refused to do; and the beans rotted where they lay. The Japanese promptly took the matter up and demanded an indemnity. The Foreign Office at once recognised the validity of the claim but the king ordered Cho Pyŭng-sik to pay the bill himself, since he had acted throughout without orders from Seoul. The unhappy governor was obliged to part with all his patrimony and several of his relatives had to do likewise. As this was not enough to settle the bill the government paid the balance. This year saw the first embassy to Europe appointed in the person of Cho Siu-heui but owing to his illness his place was filled by Pak Che-sun who started on his mission but never got further than Hong-kong. It is probable that it was through Chinese influence that he got no further. The fourth moon of the year saw the death of the aged Dowager Queen Cho, through whose influence the present king came to the throne. She was buried with royal honors and the people assumed mourning for one year.