The Corean King Made No Objection To The Arrangement,
And It Was Signed With The Express Stipulation That The Ratifications Of
The Treaty Were To Be Exchanged In The Following Year.
Thus was it
harmoniously arranged at Pekin that Corea was to issue from her hermit's
call, and open her ports to trading countries under the guidance and
encouragement of China.
There can be no doubt that if this arrangement had
been carried out, the influence and the position of China in Corea would
have been very greatly increased and strengthened. But, unfortunately, the
policy of Li Hung Chang - for if he did not originate, he took the most
important part in directing it - aroused the jealousy of Japan, which has
long asserted the right to have an equal voice with China in the control
of Corean affairs; and the government of Tokio, on hearing of the
Schufeldt treaty, at once took steps not merely to obtain all the rights
to be conferred by that document, to which no one would have objected, but
also to assert its claim to control equally with China the policy of the
Corean court. With that object, a Japanese fleet and army were sent to the
Seoul River, and when the diplomatists returned for the ratification of
the treaty, they found the Japanese in a strong position close to the
Corean capital. The Chinese were not to be set on one side in so open a
manner, and a powerful fleet of gunboats, with 5,000 troops, were sent to
the Seoul River to uphold their rights.
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