The first effort to introduce Christianity into Korea was in 1783, and had its origin with the French Jesuits then established at Peking. Although the new religion was strictly forbidden, and its propagators and adherents were visited with bitter persecution, for three quarters of a century the Catholic missionaries, with a heroic devotion undaunted by expulsion and death, persisted in their efforts and were rewarded by some degree of success. During this period measures were adopted at various times for the extermination of the hated foreign sect, but the work of the missions was prosecuted in secret, and the native Christians by thousands continued true to their faith.
In 1866 a fresh outbreak of persecution occurred, and the government resolved to utterly extirpate the foreign religion. Three bishops and seventeen priests were cruelly put to death by the express order of the authorities, and only three escaped and fled to China. The martyrdom of the foreign clergy was also attended with the slaughter of several thousand native converts. The missionaries executed by the government were, with few exceptions, French subjects, and the diplomatic representative of Napoleon III. at Peking immediately took steps to inflict exemplary punishment upon the Koreans.
In October, 1866, the French admiral, with six vessels and 600 men, reached Korean waters in the vicinity of Chemulpo, destined for the capital to dethrone the king and punish his officials for the murder of the French clergy. He captured and burned Kang-wa, a city of 20,000 inhabitants, situated on an island in the
