THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB

“Early in 1896 I went back to Korea after an absence of twelve years, at the urgent invitation of some Koreans who at that time held high positions in the government.  When I reached Korea, I found that the Koreans who had invited me had left their government positions, either voluntarily or by force, and they were not to be seen.  It seemed that some of them had to leave the country to save their lives.  In those days the Korean government changed almost every month.

“At first I tried to help the Korean government in the capacity of Adviser to the Privy Council, as they offered me a five year contract to serve them in this manner.  I accepted the offer and gave some advice.  For the first month or two some of it was accepted by the Emperor and his Cabinet officers, but they soon found that if they carried out this advice, it would interfere with some of their private schemes and privileges.  They informed the Emperor that I was not a friend of his, but a friend of the Korean people, which at that time was considered treason.  My influence was decreasing every day at the Court, and my advice was ignored.  I gave up the idea of helping the government officially and planned to give my services to the Korean people as a private individual.

“I started the first English newspaper, as well as the first Korean newspaper, both being known as The Independent.  At first this was only published semi-weekly, but later on, every other day.  The Korean edition of this paper was eagerly read by the people and the circulation increased by leaps and bounds.  It was very encouraging to me and I believe it did exert considerable influence for good.  It stopped the government officials from committing flagrant acts of corruption, and the people looked upon the paper as a source of appeal to their ruler.  This little sheet was not only circulated in the capital and immediate vicinity, but went to the remote corners of the entire kingdom.  A pathetic but interesting fact is that it was read by a subscriber, and when he had finished reading it, turned it over to his neighbours, and in this way each copy was read by at least 200 people.  The reason for this was that most of the people were too poor to buy the paper, and it was also very hard to get it to the subscribers, owing to the lack of proper transportation facilities at that time.

“After the paper was running in an encouraging manner, I started a debating club, called THE INDEPENDENCE CLUB, and leased a large hall outside of the West Gate which was originally built by the government to entertain foreign envoys who visited Korea in olden times.  This hall was very spacious and surrounded by considerable ground and was the best place in Korea for holding public meetings.  When this club was organized there were only half a dozen members, but in the course of three months the membership increased