The conference lasted nearly five hours, and then the Marquis had to leave, having accomplished nothing.  He at once tackled the members of the Cabinet, individually and collectively.  They were all summoned to the Japanese Legation on the following day, and a furious debate began, starting at three o’clock in the afternoon, and lasting till late at night.  The Ministers had sworn to one another beforehand that they would not yield.  In spite of threats, cajoleries, and proffered bribes, they remained steadfast The arguments used by Marquis Ito and Mr. Hayashi, apart from personal ones, were twofold.  The first was that it was essential for the peace of the Far East that Japan and Korea should be united.  The second appealed to racial ambition.  The Japanese painted to the Koreans a picture of a great united East, with the Mongol nations all standing firm and as one against the white man, who would reduce them to submission if he could.[1] The Japanese were determined to give the Cabinet no time to regather its strength.  On the 17th of November, another conference began at two in the afternoon at the Legation, but equally without result.  Mr. Hayashi then advised the Ministers to go to the palace and open a Cabinet Meeting in the presence of the Emperor.  This was done, the Japanese joining in.

[Footnote 1:  As it may be questioned whether the Japanese would use such arguments, I may say that the account of the interview was given to me by one of the participating Korean Ministers, and that he dealt at great length with the pro-Asian policy suggested there.  I asked him why he had not listened and accepted.  He replied that he knew what such arguments meant.  The unity of Asia when spoken of by Japanese meant the supreme autocracy of their country.]

All this time the Japanese Army had been making a great display of military force around the palace.  All the Japanese troops in the district had been for days parading the streets and open places fronting the Imperial residence.  The field-guns were out, and the men were fully armed.  They marched, countermarched, stormed, made feint attacks, occupied the gates, put their guns in position, and did everything, short of actual violence, that they could to demonstrate to the Koreans that they were able to enforce their demands.  To the Cabinet Ministers themselves, and to the Emperor, all this display had a sinister and terrible meaning.  They could not forget the night in 1895, when the Japanese soldiers had paraded around another palace, and when their picked bullies had forced their way inside and murdered the Queen.  Japan had done this before; why should she not do it again?  Not one of those now resisting the will of Dai Nippon but saw the sword in front of his eyes, and heard in imagination a hundred times during the day the rattle of the Japanese bullets.