Note 1 — Chapter XLIII · THE FRENCH EXPEDITION.

July 13, 1866.

M. de Bellonet to Prince Kung.

Sir: I grieve to bring officially to the knowledge of your Imperial Highness a horrible outrage committed in the small kingdom of Corea, which formerly assumed the bonds of vassalage to the Chinese empire, but which this act of savage barbarity has forever separated from it.

In the course of the month of March last, the two French bishops who were evangelizing Corea, and with them nine missionaries and seven Corean priests, and a great multitude of Christians of both sexes and of every age, were massacred by order of the sovereign of that country.

The government of His Majesty cannot permit so bloody an outrage to be unpunished. The same day on which the king of Corea laid his hands upon my unhappy countrymen was the last of his reign; he himself proclaimed its end, which I, in turn, solemnly declare to-day. In a few days our military forces are to march to the conquest of Corea, and the Emperor, my august Sovereign, alone has now the right and the power to dispose, according to his good pleasure, of the country and the vacant throne.

The Chinese government has declared to me many times that it has no authority over Corea, and it refused on this pretext to apply the treaties of Tien-tsin to that country, and give to our missionaries the passports which we have asked from it. We have taken note of these declarations, and we declare now that we do not recognize any authority whatever of the Chinese government over the kingdom of Corea.

I have, etc., H. de Bellonet.

His Imperial Highness, Prince Kung.

Spurning with irritating, not to say insulting, language, the suggestion of Prince Kung that Bellonet might do well to inquire into the causes and merits of the execution of the missionaries, the representative of France, November 11th, again addressed the Chinese statesman. In this missive occurs the following: “As for the fate of the former king of Corea, it is now subject to the decision of the Emperor, my august Sovereign.”

Monsieur Bellonet’s method is one specimen of the manner in which the envoys of European nations are accustomed to bully the governments of Asiatic countries. In a long communication to Prince Kung, dated November 11, 1866, Mr. Bellonet charges upon the Chinese government: 1st. Complicity with Corea. 2d. That the Corean embassy, during the previous winter, had stated the project of the massacre, and had received the tacit official authorization of the Chinese government. 3d. The direct approval of several high members of it. 4th. That the recruiting and mobilization of Mauchiu troops, beyond the Great Wall, was for the purpose of assisting Corea against the French. He writes, in addition to the above, an amazing amount of nonsense, which shows of what magnifying powers the human eye is capable when enlarged by suspicion.

Among other tidbits of rodomontade, is this one—which is a truthful picture of the France of Napoleon III.—“War for us is a pleasure which the French passionately seek;” and this—“The people of Corea address us as deliverers, … we shall inaugurate the reign of order, justice, and prosperity.” ↑