mony of the formal opening of work on the Seoul-Wiju Railway. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. Neither French nor Russian money was forthcoming to push the work, and so the Korean government was invited to finance the scheme. Yi Yong-ik was made president of the company, and, if there had been a few thousand more ex-prefects to mulct, he might have raised enough money to carry the road a few miles; but it is much to be feared that his financial ability, so tenderly touched upon by the Japanese minister in his speech on that "auspicious occasion," was scarcely sufficient for the work, and the plan was not completed. There is much reason to believe that this whole operation was mainly a scheme on the part of the Russians to pre-empt the ground in order to keep the Japanese out.
As the year wore toward its close, the usurpation of numerous offices by Yi Yong-ik, and his assumption of complete control in the palace, bore its legitimate fruit in the intense hatred of four-fifths of the entire official class. He was looked upon as but one more victim destined to the same fate which had overtaken Kim Hong-nyuk and Kim Yung-jun. But in his case the difficulties were much greater. Yi Yong-ik had put away in some safe place an enormous amount of government money, and he held it as a hostage for his personal safety. Until that money was safely in the imperial treasury even the revenge would not be sweet enough to make it worth the loss. Not only so, but the whole finances of the household were in his hands, and his sudden taking off would leave the accounts in such shape that no one could make them out, and enormous sums due the department would be lost. Yi Yong-ik had fixed himself so that his life was better worth than his death, however much that might be desired. But the officiary at large cared little for this. There was no doubt that the one person who should accomplish the overthrow of the favourite, and thus bring embarrassment to the imperial purse, would suffer for it, but Korean intrigue was quite capable of coping with a little
