currency, to reduce his army, to adopt Japanese military and educational
methods, and eventually to trust the foreign relations to Japan. One of the
first results of this new agreement was that Mr. (now Baron) Megata was
given control of the Korean finances. He quickly brought extensive and, on
the whole, admirable changes into the currency. Under the old methods,
Korean money was among the worst in the world. The famous gibe of a British
Consul in an official report, that the Korean coins might be divided into
good, good counterfeits, bad counterfeits, and counterfeits so bad that
they can only be passed off in the dark, was by no means an effort of
imagination. In the days before the war it was necessary, when one received
any sum of money, to employ an expert to count over the coins, and put
aside the worst counterfeits. The old nickels were so cumbersome that a
very few pounds' worth of them formed a heavy load for a pony. Mr. Megata
changed all this, and put the currency on a sound basis, naturally not
without some temporary trouble, but certainly with permanent benefit to the
country.

The next great step in the Japanese advance was the acquirement of the
entire Korean postal and telegraph system. This was taken over, despite
Korean protests. More and more Japanese gendarmes were brought in and
established themselves everywhere. They started to control all political
activity. Men who protested against Japanese action were arrested and
imprisoned, or driven abroad. A notorious pro-Japanese society, the II Chin
Hoi, was fostered by every possible means, members receiving for a time
direct payments through Japanese sources. The payment at one period was 50
sen (1s.) a day. Notices were posted in Seoul that no one could organize a
political society unless the Japanese headquarters consented, and no one
could hold a meeting for discussing affairs without permission, and without
having it guarded by Japanese police. All letters and circulars issued by
political societies were first to be submitted to the headquarters. Those