Korea. He visited Fusan in 1880 in an effort to execute his instructions, and met with the same refusal that other foreign officials had experienced. But the American legation in Peking had received intimations of the change of sentiment in the Korean court, and Commodore Shufeldt was temporarily detached from sea service and ordered to report to the minister at the Chinese capital, with the object of studying the situation of affairs, so that he might be prepared to take advantage of any favorable opportunity which should present itself in Korea.

The commodore spent the winter of 1881-2 in Peking, and by March it became known to the legation through Li Hung Chang that the Korean government was willing to enter into a treaty with the United States. As soon as the season would permit, steps were taken to make ready a naval vessel, and on May 7 Commodore Shufeldt in a United States man-of-war arrived at Chemulpo, with full power to negotiate and sign a treaty. He was accompanied by three Chinese naval vessels bearing Chinese commissioners, likewise authorized to make a treaty on behalf of China. Both parties being of the same mind as to the general object, little time was required to agree upon the details. May 24, 1882, a "treaty of peace, amity, commerce and navigation" between the United States and the kingdom of Korea was signed, with simple ceremonies, in a temporary pavilion on the shore opposite the anchorage of the commodore's vessel, and the "Hermit Kingdom' of the East entered into the family of nations under the auspices of the young republic of the West.

On

Commodore Shufeldt had, at the date of the signing of the treaty, served forty-three years in the navy, during which he had performed important duties in connection with the slave trade and in the Civil War. This diplomatic mission did not come to him by chance, but he, like Perry, was selected for it because of his fitness to perform its duties. He had discharged with credit a diplomatic trust in Mexico during the Civil War, and had made himself conversant with Korean affairs by two previous visits to that country. His last diplomatic success added another worthy page to the history of the peaceful achievements of the American navy.

By the terms of the treaty the United States was admitted to trade in the three ports already opened to the Japanese, and to such as might be afterwards opened to foreign commerce; diplomatic and consular officers were to be received; provision was made for the case of shipwrecked vessels, and other usual stipulations of commercial treaties; traffic in opium was prohibited; and exterritorial jurisdiction was given to American consuls, - but the following provision was inserted: "Whenever the king of Chosen shall have so far modified and reformed the statutes and judicial procedure of his kingdom that, in the judgment of the United States, they conform to the laws and course of justice in the United States, the right of exterritorial jurisdiction over United States citizens in Chosen shall be abandoned;" and the two countries were to be open to the residence respectively of the citizens and subjects of the other to pursue their callings and avocations.1

1 For Sargent resolution and speech, 7 Cong. Rec. pt. iii. pp. 2324,

A leading London journal, in announcing the signing of the American-Korean treaty, recalled the feat accomplished thirty years before by Perry, who, "overcoming obstacles which had baffled almost every European nation, and without firing a shot, or leaving illfeeling behind, succeeded in opening Japan to foreign intercourse," and said: "The conclusion of a treaty between the United States and Corea adds another to the peaceful successes of American diplomacy in the far East." And so it has resulted that the establishment of intercourse with the Western world through the United States has been regarded by the Koreans as a recognition of the disinterested friendship of that country.

The signature of the treaty was soon followed by the arrival of an American minister, Mr. Lucius H. Foote, who was received by the king with much distinction and cordiality, and likewise by the queen, who also received the minister's wife. This conduct was in marked contrast with that of Japan even, whose sovereign was not accessible to foreign representatives till fourteen years after the Perry treaty, and still more with that of China, which delayed similar intercourse for a quarter of a century after its treaties with the West.

The reception of the American minister was promptly followed by the dispatch of a special embassy to the United States, consisting of two Koreans of high rank with a suitable suite, who were transported from Korea

2600. For treaty, Treaties of U. S. 216; Commodore Shufeldt's Report, May 29, 1882, MSS. Department of State; 8 Presidents' Messages, 111; Griffis's Corea, 428-435; Curzon's Far East, 202; Gundry's China, 247; Appleton's Annual Cyclopædia, 1882, p. 175.

and returned home in United States naval vessels, after being received with great attention by the President and the American people. The king manifested to Minister Foote his high appreciation of the distinguished reception his representatives had received; and the first ambassador, in making similar acknowledgment on his return, said: "I was born in the dark; I went out into the light, and now I have returned into the dark again; I cannot as yet see my way clearly, but I hope to soon."

The year after the negotiation of the American treaty similar conventions were signed by the representatives of Great Britain and Germany. There was, however, in the British treaty a notable variance from its stipulations with China, as it prohibited the importation of opium into Korea.1

The dispatch of the special embassy to the United States was the only representation to any Western nation until the year 1887, when it was announced that a minister plenipotentiary had been appointed to the United States, and one other to represent Korea at all the European courts with which the country had treaties. This was at once followed by an interdiction on the part of China, on the ground that Korea was a vassal state, and that such a step could not be taken without first obtaining the consent of the emperor. Before the signature of the treaty with the United States in 1882, a letter from the king of Korea to the President was

1 U. S. For. Rel. 1883, pp. 241–245, 248-250; 1884, pp. 125, 126; 8 Presidents' Messages, 174; Lanman's Leading Men of Japan, 386; Gundry's China, 253, 254; Griffis's Corea, 446, 447.

handed to Commodore Shufeldt, in which it was stated that "Chosen has been from ancient times a state tributary to China," but that the United States had no concern with this relation, and that he entered into the treaty as an independent sovereign, and on terms of equality. And upon negotiating treaties with other Western powers a similar notification was given.

The attitude of China in this respect has been most inconsistent. When the French government was proposing to call Korea to account in 1866 for the execution of the Catholic missionaries, the Tsung-li Yamen explicitly disavowed any responsibility for the acts of Korea, and stated that in its relations with other nations it was entirely independent. The same attitude was assumed by China when the Japanese treaty was made in 1876 and the American treaty in 1882. An attempt had been made by treaty between China and Japan in 1885 to regulate their conflicting relations as to Korea. While denying responsibility for the acts of that government towards foreign powers, China was constantly seeking to control its intercourse with them.

The king of Korea, alarmed lest China should make his action a pretext for war, sent a humble petition to the emperor asking for his gracious approval of the appointment of the two ministers to the United States and Europe, at the same time assuring the American representative at Seoul that he was resolved to send them. The emperor gave his approval, but through Li Hung Chang the king was notified that he must appoint only ministers resident, or of the third class, so as to be lower in rank than the Chinese representative;