By Robert Neff
In September 1884, the Royal Oak Saloon arrived in items and was laboriously carried up the hill to the consulate website. Nevertheless, particulars of its reconstruction are agonizingly absent. The port was present process a constructing spree, and manpower was scarce. The American consulate had a crew of builders from Nagasaki; did the British even have a crew, or did they depend on native labor?
Although the precise completion date of the Royal Oak Saloon and its transformation into the British consulate is unclear, information present that by June 1, 1885, the consul-general and his spouse have been capable of relaxation there throughout a quick go to. A couple of week later, Edward Harper Parker changed Carles because the vice consul. From the consulate’s window, not solely have been adjustments within the diplomatic corps witnessed, but in addition shifts within the political scene in Seoul.
By early October, the American consulate had pale from point out. Lionel F. Gowing, a former reporter for an English-language newspaper in Shanghai, visited Korea briefly and took word of the consulates. He remarked that the Chinese language, British and Japanese consulates have been perched on hills “standing excessive above the imply streets, [and] have been conspicuous from each quarter” of the settlement. Of those, he discovered the Japanese consulate to be “by far crucial constructing within the Settlement.”
Gowing additionally witnessed the arrival of Heungseon Daewongun (King Gojong’s father) describing it as:
“[A] dense crowd of Koreans, with a sprinkling of Japanese, had collected in entrance of the [British] Consulate, the place his Highness was staying, within the hope of catching a glimpse of the nice man. Korean officers, carrying peacocks’ feathers of their hats, have been hurrying from side to side, and a double line of marines from the Chinese language man-of-war saved order and prevented the rabble from blocking up the trail, alongside which officers have been regularly arriving to pay their respects to the Prince. It sounded very unusual, and considerably important, to listen to the phrases of command “shoulder arms,” “order arms,” “proper flip,” and so forth delivered within the language of the Western barbarians and responded to with army promptitude.”
A couple of century later, a historian offered just a little extra perception as to what was happening in Seoul:
“The enjoyment expressed by the populace on the return of the king’s father was mingled with apprehension as three officers, charged with having aided the Daewongun three years earlier than within the try upon the queen’s life, have been executed by her order, and plenty of different individuals, suspected of involvement within the affair, have been rounded up.”
International diplomats in Seoul warned the Korean authorities that such acts may incite violence among the many basic inhabitants. The dismembered our bodies of the executed, which had been horrifically displayed within the streets, have been quickly cleared away.
Similtaneously the Daewongun’s return, different distinguished figures arrived in Korea: Carl von Waeber, the Russian consultant; Yuan Shikai, the Chinese language consultant; Henry F. Merrill, the brand new commissioner of Korean Customs; and Calborne E. Baber, the brand new British consul basic — Parker’s new superior.
Not the entire consulate’s actions have been strictly governmental. On Dec. 23, the Jemulpo neighborhood was saddened to be taught of the dying of Captain Frederick Crighton, a popular commander of a steamship that usually sailed between Japan and China by way of Jemulpo. His funeral was held on the consulate on the next day, after which he was buried on the foreigners’ cemetery within the port.
Every week later, Parker hosted a really profitable New 12 months’s get together on the consulate. It was fairly an occasion. Amongst his visitors have been members of the diplomatic corps in Jemulpo, the commanders of the men-of-war visiting the port and the members of the Korean Customs Service. One visitor wrote: “Each one in all Consul Parker’s visitors admired his nice versatility as a philologue: it appears to be a matter of excellent indifference to him whether or not he speaks English to his visitors, or their very own native language; and there have been representatives of not less than a half a dozen totally different nationalities represented round his hospitable desk.”
Whereas fashionable historian James Hoare described Parker as “considerably odd,” I discover him to be fascinating and really daring. He was a talented pianist who entertained the small neighborhood together with his piano whereas stationed in Fusan (modern-day Busan) in 1884. He additionally had a beautiful and interesting writing fashion.
He referred to his consulate as “The Royal Oak,” an previous pub that had been “introduced bodily from Nagasaki,” which, in response to one in all his visitors, Carl von Waeber, “didn’t have a single straight line in it, inside or out.”
Parker’s most necessary and decisive act whereas in Jemulpo (not less than in his eyes) occurred on Jan. 25, 1886. He wrote: “I used to be sitting within the ‘Royal Oak,’ while Dr. Tanaka was prescribing a food regimen of uncooked eggs for my quinsy, and kerosene oil baths for my sciatica and lumbago… Simply because the Japanese [servant] was providing me my first dose of uncooked egg and kerosene, the Chinese language [servant] and the Korean [horse-handler] ran in to shout ‘homicide.’”
Parker saved a telescope subsequent to the window to observe the comings and goings within the port. By way of it, he spied a big group of Chinese language retailers and laborers armed with golf equipment and different makeshift weapons roaming the streets. This “pitiful set of rascals” was a part of the mob that had attacked a number of members of the Korean Customs employees who had accused the Chinese language of making an attempt to smuggle crimson ginseng aboard one of many Chinese language warships.
In response, Parker requested 10 males from the British warship within the harbor to protect the consulate. Their arrival instantly prompted a stir within the port, primarily because of their march up the winding path to the consulate. “As they wound spherical into and out of view they seemed as they handed and repassed extra like 100.” In response to Parker, the sight of the British marines rapidly dispersed the Chinese language mob.
The Chinese language consul implored Parker to ship the lads again “in order to save lots of ‘Chinese language face,’” however he refused. It was solely after the arrival of two Korean officers did he conform to ship the marines again to their ship, however not till the next morning.
“In the meantime, the British captain, who had been out taking pictures, arrived to take his traditional afternoon cocktail with me, and was somewhat amused to discover a lieutenant and ten of his males, the latter feasting, armed to the tooth, on chickens, beer, and different luxuries in my personal workplace spherical a roaring hearth, Previous Daiboots, the jolly Japanese Brobdingnagian [giant] innkeeper, having volunteered to personally present a wonderful feast for the marines.”
The next morning, on the break of daybreak, the British marines quietly returned to their ship. Their passage was so discreet that, in response to Parker, many individuals believed the hill had a secret tunnel resulting in the docks.
Although Parker’s narrative is considerably self-serving, his summoning of the marines did assist quell the violent riot. His decisive motion, nonetheless, attracted undesirable consideration from the Chinese language consultant to Korea, who occurred to be good associates with Parker’s superior, Baber. Each the ginseng riot and the rivalry between Parker and Baber can be topics for later articles.
Within the years that adopted, the British consulate pale from the pages of letters and newspaper articles, often talked about solely because the venue for Jemulpo’s Municipal Council conferences.
When the long-lasting journey author Isabella Chicken Bishop arrived within the port in 1894, she famous the consulate, perched upon its hill, and denounced it as “a comfortless and unworthy constructing.” Maybe her incapacity to remain on the consulate as a visitor influenced her harsh opinion.
Then again, some share her biting evaluation. On June 23, 1898, the consul, 40-year-old Henry Bencraft Joly, unexpectedly died in his mattress. In response to Hoare, Joly caught a chill in “his apparently unheated bed room.” Contemplating the season and his current journey to Pyongyang, I can’t assist however marvel if one thing apart from the drafty situations of the Royal Oak contributed to his demise.
It’s a disgrace that the Royal Oak is gone now — a sufferer of modernization and progress. Think about what nice tales its partitions and ghosts may have whispered.
Robert Neff has authored and co-authored a number of books together with “Letters from Joseon,” “Korea By way of Western Eyes” and “Temporary Encounters.”