ports.[620] The Russian Minister, M. Pavloff, however, was as strenuously opposed to the opening of these ports as Mr. Hayashi was to the conclusion of the lease agreement. The conditions were almost identical with those in 1898 under which Great Britain urged the opening of Talien-wan, so as to counteract the Russian aggression upon it and Port Arthur, and also with those in Manchuria, in this same year, where the American and Japanese Governments demanded the opening of new ports in order to prevent the exclusion of foreign trade and industry from Manchuria under Russian rule. The struggle between the open and the exclusive policy, however, continued much longer in Korea than in China, owing largely to the extremely unstable political conditions at Seul, which enabled the Russian diplomats oftener and longer to influence the Korean court.[621] As regards the lease of Yong-am-po, the Korean Government was now so alive to the serious nature of the agreement that it proposed to modify its terms late in August.[622] M. Pavloff, however, persistently urged the Korean Government to ratify the original agreement. On August 27, for instance, he and Baron Gunzburg remained at the Foreign Office from one to six o’clock in the afternoon, requesting the immediate conclusion of the contract, until the Foreign Minister escaped out of the door and tendered his resignation.[623] At the same time, the conduct of the Russians on the frontier grew even more menacing than before. The cutting of timber was started at different points, where many Koreans were forced into unpaid service, and the bandits in Russian employ created disorder among peaceful citizens.[624] Moreover, according to the reports of Korean officials, the Russians had occupied at Yong-am-po—now named Nicolas—a ground far more extensive than the lease-area stipulated in the yet unratified agreement.[625] All this while, the Russians at the Capital exercised a powerful influence over both Yi Keun-thaik and Yi Yong-ik, two of the most noted politicians at Seul, and over the strong party upholding the interests of Lady Öm.[626] It was through these pro-Russian people that the unique idea of declaring the neutrality of Korea before the outbreak of any war—an idea which had more than once been unsuccessfully proposed[627]—was again brought forward, and finally, early in 1904, carried into effect in an awkward manner.[628]