Page:A Forbidden Land - Voyages to the Corea (1880).djvu/19

x I?REFACE. for weakness, to subsequent differences, and finally to war. Probably at no distant period those Powers which have an interest at stake in Eastern Asia will be compelled, with or against their will, to take into consideration what may be termed the Corean ques- tion-we may hope ere it is too late. The whole of the East Coast as far as the Tumen is already in the possession of Russia; a very small army and a few war-vessels are all that is required to occupy and hold permanently the Corean peninsula; and if Rus- sia chooses, she may at any moment make herself master of the entire Eastern Coast of Asia down to the Sea of Japan. And rather than see the present state of things continue, it might be preferable to have the Corea taken possession of by Russia; at all events, it would then be made accessible, and cease to continue a mockery to the world. October, 1879..