The King being virtually in the custody of the Russians, their ascendency resulted as a matter of course. They secured, among other things, an immense timber concession on the northern frontier and on Uinung Island,[499] and a mining concession along the Tumên River.[500] The Korean forces trained by Japanese officers were abolished in May,[501] and the Japanese soldiers stationed at the ports and Seul also were reduced in number.[502] The Government at Tokio even appeared, for a time at least, to forsake its historic policy of safe-guarding Korea’s independence by its sole aid, but to seek Russia’s coöperation toward the same end. With this object in view, Japan seized the occasion of the coronation of the Czar to send Field Marshal Marquis Aritomo Yamagata[503] as special envoy to St. Petersburg, with a commission to negotiate with the Russian Government an agreement regarding the relative position of the two Powers in Korea. The result was the following Yamagata-Lobanoff Protocol, signed on June 9, 1896:— “ARTICLE I. The Japanese and Russian Governments should, with the object of remedying the financial embarrassments of Korea, counsel the Korean Government to suppress all unnecessary expenses and to establish an equilibrium between expenditure and revenue. If, as a result of the reforms which should be considered indispensable, it should become necessary to have recourse to foreign debts, the two Governments should, of a common accord, render their support to Korea. “ARTICLE II. The Japanese and Russian Governments should try to abandon to Korea, in so far as the financial and economic situation of that country should permit, the creation and the maintenance of an armed force and of a police organized of native subjects, in proportions sufficient to maintain internal order, without foreign aid. “ARTICLE III. With a view to facilitating communications with Korea, the Japanese Government shall continue to administer the telegraphic lines which are actually in its possession. “It is reserved to Russia to establish a telegraphic line from Seul to her frontier. “These various lines should be purchased by the Korean Government, as soon as it finds means so to do. “ARTICLE IV. In case the principles above expounded require a more precise and more detailed definition, or if in the future other points should arise about which it should be necessary to consult, the Representatives of the two Governments should be instructed to discuss them amicably.”[504]