and returned home in United States naval vessels, after being received with great attention by the President and the American people. The king manifested to Minister Foote his high appreciation of the distinguished reception his representatives had received; and the first ambassador, in making similar acknowledgment on his return, said: "I was born in the dark; I went out into the light, and now I have returned into the dark again; I cannot as yet see my way clearly, but I hope to soon."
The year after the negotiation of the American treaty similar conventions were signed by the representatives of Great Britain and Germany. There was, however, in the British treaty a notable variance from its stipulations with China, as it prohibited the importation of opium into Korea.[1]
The dispatch of the special embassy to the United States was the only representation to any Western nation until the year 1887, when it was announced that a minister plenipotentiary had been appointed to the United States, and one other to represent Korea at all the European courts with which the country had treaties. This was at once followed by an interdiction on the part of China, on the ground that Korea was a vassal state, and that such a step could not be taken without first obtaining the consent of the emperor. Before the signature of the treaty with the United States in 1882, a letter from the king of Korea to the President was
- ↑ U. S. For. Rel. 1883, pp. 241–245, 248–250; 1884, pp. 125, 126; 8 Presidents' Messages, 174; Lanman's Leading Men of Japan, 386; Gundry's China, 253, 254; Griffis's Corea, 446, 447.
