Coming still nearer to the practical side of the Protocol, it is not difficult to see that, of the three methods already explained, one stands out as the most important and most difficult,—the reform. No greater burden and no more delicate work for a nation can be imagined than that of regenerating another whose nobility has grown powerful under corruption, and whose lower classes do not desire a higher existence. On the other hand, the inertia and resistance of Korea would be tremendous, in which her “full confidence” would give place to hatred and rancor. The proverbial machinations of the peninsular politicians would be set in motion in all their speed and confusion. It would not be surprising if, under the circumstances, even a military control of Korea of a temporary and mild nature should become necessary in order to cure her malady and set her house in order. On the other hand, when the necessary reform should be so deep and wide as is required in the present instance, the temptation of the reformer would be great, and the suspicion of the reformed even greater, where political reformatory enterprises border upon the economic.[687] Here and everywhere, Japan would save herself from the gravest of errors, in spite of her best intention in the large issue, only by the severest self-control and consummate tact. Great is the penalty of Japan that arises from her peculiar position. She has never encountered in her long history a greater trial of her moral force as a nation than in the new situation opened by the Protocol. As to the world at large, it will look forward to an intensely interesting experiment of human history. ----- Footnote 680: The _Kwampō_, February 19 (1904), p. 387. Footnote 681: Ex-Secretary of War Elihu Root’s speech at the Republican Convention at Chicago, June 21, 1904. Footnote 682: The _Kwampō_, February 19 (1904), pp. 387–388. Footnote 683: _Ibid._, p. 388. Footnote 684: _Ibid._, February 27 (1904), pp. 586–587. Footnote 685: See the three Russo-Japanese agreements regarding Korea, concluded in 1896 and 1898, pp. 263 ff., above. Footnote 686: Chapter XVII. Footnote 687: See the virulent opposition of certain reactionaries of Korea against the railroad, shipping, and other economic enterprises of the Japanese in the peninsula, as expressed in a circular letter issued by them in June, 1904, and published in the _Dōbun-kwai_, No. 56 (July, 1904), pp. 57–62. Here, as everywhere, the student should carefully observe the nature of the opposition, its agents, and their motives. Cf. the latest issues of the _Korea Review_, edited by Mr. H. B. Hulbert, Seul. INDEX Agriculture of Japan, 2; production, 3–4; in finance, 4–5; arable land, 5–6 and notes; improvements, 6; domestic animals, 6 n. 4; wages and profits, 6–7; subsidiary occupation, 7; owners and tenants, 7 and n. 2.