fight occurred during the next few days between the popular party and the
Conservatives, and then, to bring peace, the Emperor promised his people a
general audience in front of the palace. The meeting took place amid every
surrounding that could lend it solemnity. The foreign representatives and
the heads of the Government were in attendance. The Emperor, who stood on a
specially built platform, received the leaders of the Independents, and
listened to their statement of their case. They asked that the monarch
should keep some of his old promises to maintain the national integrity and
do justice. The Emperor, in reply, presented them with a formal document,
in which he agreed to their main demands.

The crowd, triumphant, dispersed. The organization of the reformers
slackened, for they thought that victory was won. Then the Conservative
party landed some of its heaviest blows. The reformers were accused of
desiring to establish a republic. Dissension was created in their ranks by
the promotion of a scheme to recall Pak Yung-hio. Some of the more extreme
Independents indulged in wild talk, and gave excuse for official
repression. Large numbers of reform leaders were arrested on various
pretexts. Meetings were dispersed at the point of the bayonet, and the
reform movement was broken. The Emperor did not realize that he had, in the
hour that he consented to crush the reformers, pronounced the doom of his
own Imperial house, and handed his land over to an alien people.

Dr. Jaisohn maintains that foreign influence was mainly responsible for the
destruction of the Independence Club. Certain Powers did not wish Korea to
be strong. He adds:

"The passing of the Independence Club was one of the most
unfortunate things in the history of Korea, but there is one
consolation to be derived from it, and that is, the seed of