Sir H.S. Parkes to Earl Granville.(Received January 8, 1883)

(No. 166)
Tôkiô, November 25, 1882

My Lord,

DURING a visit which the Corean Envoy paid me two days ago he again asked me whether the British Treaty had been ratified, and expressed his desire to see the people of the two countries entering into direct relationship with each other. He also observed that, as Great Britain was a powerful State, and possessed of wide Asiatic experience, Corea, who was weak and uninformed, would count upon her for support. He also hoped that the British Representative in Corea would be well versed in Asiatic affairs.
He also told me that he had heard of the unsettled feeling in Corea, to which I have referred in my despatches Nos. 158 and 162, but that it was never serious, and had been allayed.
MR.Hall, Her Majesty’s Acting Consul at Nagasaki, who has paid a short visit to Söul, informs me privately that the Chinese are very popular in Corea, and that strict discipline is now maintained among the troops. He observes that the severe regulations, which I forwarded in my despatch No. 162, were posted up everywhere along the road from the coast to the capital, and that they were rigidly enforced, five men having been executed for infringing them. He could see no signs of the existence of any Corean troops.
The Japanese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs told me yesterday that he had heard, though not authentically, that the Chinese Government had increased their loan to Corea to 800,000 dollars, and that the Corean foreign Customs of the future had been hypothecated to them as security.

I have, &c.
(Signed) HARRY S. PARKES