The half-way measures adopted on Nov. 26th by no means satisfied those who wished to see His Majesty freed from practical durance at the hands of men thoroughly obnoxious to him, and a scheme was evolved by a number of Koreans to effect his release by forcible means. The purpose of these men was a laudable one but the execution of it was ill-managed. On the night of the 28th upwards of a thousand Koreans demanded entrance into the palace. They had arranged with one of the members of the palace guard, inside, to open the gate to them, but at the last moment he failed them and they found themselves balked. The palace was in some confusion, the King had called in to his presence the three foreigners who, at his request, were on duty that night, but in spite of their assurances that his person would be protected it was only natural that excitement should run high. The crowd without were shouting wildly and attempting to scale the high wall, and the members of the cabinet, before the King, did not know at what moment the guard might betray them to the assailants, and they knew that once betrayed they would be torn to pieces without mercy. They tried therefore to induce the King to remove to a distant part of the palace where he could hide for a long time before he could be found even though the crowd should effect an entrance. The night was bitterly cold and the King was but lightly clad, and as the King’s person was safe in any event, the foreigners who were with him opposed the move strongly and at last were compelled to use physical force to prevent the change, which would certainly have endangered the King’s life. The purpose of the cabinet was thus thwarted but as the hours passed it become evident that the men outside would not be able to effect an entrance. The shouts gradually died away and at last the crowd dispersed leaving in the hands of the palace guard three or four men who had scaled the wall but had not been followed by their confreres. In view of the attitude of the Tokyo Government the Japanese in Seoul were now entirely quiescent and the government was standing on its own base. The cabinet held its own by virtue of the palace guard which was composed of the soldiers trained by the Japanese. This cabinet and guard held together from necessity, for both knew that should their power fail they would be denounced as traitors and under the circumstances could expect little help from the Japanese. The cabinet had to make a show of investigating the attack of Oct. 5th and someone must be killed for having murdered the queen. At the same time punishment was to be meted out to the principals in the attempt on the palace on November 28th.