Note 2 — Chapter LI · THE WAR OF 1894: COREA AN EMPIRE.

This was almost the last appearance in public of “Yi Ha-eung, Prince of Heung Song,” the Tai-wen Kun, or Prince Parent. He emerged fitfully on one occasion before the police authorities to secure the release of one of his retainers, and then retired to his estate in Kiodang. He died peacefully, on the 22d of February, 1898, and was buried with due ceremonies. His mausoleum, made according to all the proprieties of Corean taste and mortuary art, makes an attractive sight on the landscape of Corea. On August 18, 1900, Corea being now an empire, he was by imperial decree raised to the rank of Wang, or King. He will ever be remembered by the Coreans as one of the most powerful personalities in the modern history of their nation. According to traditional usage, Corean princes cannot hold office, and for that reason many of them decline the title, in order to avoid the poverty which acceptance of it brings, and get Government appointments to office with salary. The Tai-wen Kun, born in Seoul, January 22, 1811, made good use of his opportunity, which came both with his title and his office. Besides doing a great many bad things, to the injury of his country, he made some great improvements. He was, according to his lights, a statesman and a patriot, and he foresaw to some extent the designs of Russia. In methods he never rose above the atmosphere of the environment within which he had been educated. In person he was five feet six inches in height, but looked a leader of men. He was the great-grandson of one king, the nephew of another, and the father of a third. “He became the leader of the small remnant of the imperial clan left, and really preserved it from extinction.”2