To attack one’s victim without giving him an opportunity for defence is essentially a cowardly thing.  Assassination—­I prefer to give it its simpler name, murder—­is wrong, whatever the supposed excuse, fundamentally wrong, wrong in principle, fatal in its outcome for those who adopt it.  Have nothing to do with it.

The murder of Prince Ito was a cruel blow for Korea.  It was followed by an attempt to assassinate the Korean Premier, the man who had handed his country over to Japan.  For some time the military party in Japan had been clamouring for a more severe policy in the Peninsula.  Now it was to have its way.  General Count Terauchi was appointed Resident-General.

Count Terauchi was leader of the military party in Korea, and an avowed exponent of the policy of “thorough.”  A soldier from his youth up, he had risen to the General Staff, and in 1904 was Minister of War in the fight against Russia, earning his Viscountcy for brilliant services.  Strong, relentless, able, he could only see one thing—­Japan and the glory of Japan.  He regarded the Koreans as a people to be absorbed or to be eliminated.  He was generally regarded as unsympathetic to Christianity, and many of the Koreans were now Christians.

Terauchi came to Seoul in the summer of 1910, to reverse the policy of his predecessors.  He was going to stamp the last traces of nationality out of existence.  Where Ito had been soft, he would be hard as chilled steel.  Where Ito had beaten men with whips, he would beat them with scorpions.

Every one knew ahead what was coming.  The usual plan was followed.  First, the official and semi-official plan was followed.  The Seoul Press, now the lickspittle of the great man, gave good value for the subsidy it receives.  It came out with an article hard to surpass for brutality and hypocrisy:—­

“The present requires the wielding of an iron hand rather than a gloved one in order to secure lasting peace and order in this country.  There is no lack of evidence to show an intense dissatisfaction against the new state of things is fermenting at present among a section of the Koreans.  It is possible that if left unchecked, it may culminate in some shocking crime.  Now after carefully studying the cause and nature of the dissatisfaction just referred to, we find that it is both foolish and unreasonable....

“Japan is in this country with the object of promoting the happiness of the masses.  She has not come to Korea to please a few hundred silly youngsters or to feed a few hundred titled loafers.  It is no fault of hers that these men are dissatisfied because of their failure to satisfy them.... She must be prepared to sacrifice anybody who offers obstacles to her work.  Japan has hitherto dealt with Korean malcontents in a lenient way.  She has learned from experience gained during the past five years that there are some persons who cannot be converted by conciliatory methods. There