VI.

The following document completes the history of Korea's foreign relations, giving as it does an official account of the mode in which treaties with Western powers were concluded, and of the rôle China played in their negotiation.

This paper may invalidate some of the inferences which I have drawn concerning the present relations of Korea and China, but of this I leave my readers to judge. The question is not one into which I care to enter, nor even one which I feel competent to decide; for it cannot be finally judged by our Western rules, and the Asiatic one is to me unknown, since published documents do not explain it sufficiently.

MEMORIAL OF THE KING OF CHÖSEN TO THE EMPEROR OF CHINA IN REFERENCE TO SENDING ENVOYS TO WESTERN COUNTRIES. PUBLISHED IN THE SHIH PAO OF TIENTSIN, Nov. 29, 1887.

Your Minister (E) the King of Chösen, Ni I, respectfully memorializes the Throne in the matter of asking the Imperial consent as a preliminary step to sending envoys to Western countries.

On the 7th day of the 8th month of the present year (23d September, 1887), Shin Wo-chak, Yang-wi-cheng of the Wicheng-pu, reported that he had received a despatch from Yüan Shih-K'ai, (Chinese) Minister resident in Chosen for diplomatic and commercial affairs, stating that orders had reached him from the Grand Secretary of State Li Hung-chang, in which he said: "a telegram from the Tsung-li Yamen has been received containing the following Imperial edict:

"As to Chösen sending envoys to Western countries, it is "necessary first to solicit the sanction of the Throne; when "this has been granted, envoys may be sent. This is in accordance with the ceremonial usages governing the relations of "dependent states (with the Imperial government).

Respectfully received.”+

"You will immediately communicate this to the (Korean) government (F), so that it may act accordingly.

"In view of these instructions, he (Yüan Shih-K'ai), as in duty bound, communicated the above to the honorable Council of State, requesting it to consider the subject and to take measures in compliance therewith."

In our humble opinion, this country (B) has for genera

*The Wi-cheng-pu is practically the Council of State of Korea. This phrase is usually translated by respect this,' but it is really an indorsement put on documents emanating from the Emperor by the secretaries of the grand council after copying them for transmission, and forms no part of the Imperial commands.

tions been the recipient of favors from the Heavenly Court, favors as great and as far reaching as (Heaven and Earth) which cover and support all, and as exalted and profound as the mountains and the sea. There is nothing which His Majesty does not comprehend, and they who seek (his aid) do find it.*

As to the matter of foreign relations, we have received express orders from Your Majesty (T), showing his loving kindness for a border protected state(), and his sedulous care in supporting and directing it. He expressly authorized us to enter into relations of commerce and amity with the United States in the first place, and he deputed an officer to assist in negotiating a satisfactory treaty. Besides this, He had prior to this caused (us) to send a despatch (to the United States) clearly stating that Chösen was a member) of the Chinese Empire, but that as to its internal administration and foreign relations it had always enjoyed independence.†

As in duty bound, this country sedulously attends to the duties devolving upon a prince of the Empire (); but as to questions of equality and reciprocity, and of an international character with foreign nations, it and they enjoy sovereign powers.‡ Later on, other Western powers came in turn (to Korea) and negotiated treaties, all of which were based on that concluded with the United States, which was both satisfactory and just. When they were concluded, the facts were reported to Your Majesty and received your approval.

After the exchange of ratifications of the American treaty, a minister plenipotentiary was sent in accordance with its provisions to reside at Soul, and this country sent an envoy (to the United States) bearing messages of good will, and he (in due course) returned.

But as to sending congratulatory messages to the other (treaty) powers, it was not possible to do so; hence the repeated requests of the envoys of the different (treaty) powers to have us send envoys to reside in their countries.

This country, while having present to its mind the urgency of the occasion was yet desirous of complying with the terms of the treaties, so I have recently appointed my minister §

*Lit., "where there is seeking there is finding." The phrase is in constant use, and may be seen on every wall and in every temple in China, as an expression of belief in the mercy of the gods and an acknowledgment of favors received from them.

A letter, the contents of which are as herein stated, has been addressed by the Korean government to every power which has concluded a treaty with it. Compare the remark of the Emperor Tai-tsu of the Ming, quoted p. 4: "Kao-li is not under the rule of the Middle Kingdom."

Literally, both complete,' both with full powers.'

The King, speaking of himself as the Emperor's Minister (E) must needs call his own ministers p'ei ch'en, 'subordinate minister.' This

Pak Chong-yong to be a Minister plenipotentiary, and propose sending him to reside in the United States. I have moreover appointed my minister Cho Chyen-li to be a Minister plenipotentiary, proposing to send him to the five realms of England, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, there to reside for the transaction of international questions.

I now, as in duty bound, submit these facts to Your Majesty, and beg that as an extra act of grace you will deign to sanction the sending of these envoys, to the end that the question of envoys may be settled in accordance with treaties.

Your memorialist has moreover to remark that, in accordance with established regulations when questions arise concerning the presentation of tribute and ceremonial (audiences), he writes ()* to the Board of Ceremonies, who in turn present the subject to Your Majesty, while international matters are submitted to Your Majesty by the Prince and Ministers of the Foreign office or the superintendent of northern trade, the Minister of State Li Hung-chang. Except in matters of exceptional gravity, he would not venture to address directly Your Majesty; but in the present case after having listened on bended knee and with unutterable awe and trembling to Your Majesty's telegraphic commands, he ventures, in utter disregard of all sense of propriety, to state unequivocally his innermost thoughts; and he awaits in trepidation the Imperial reply to his request that, as a preliminary step to sending envoys to Western countries, Your Majesty's sanction be obtained, which is hereby respectfully solicited.

is not, however, a peculiarity of this document; it occurs throughout the Ta-ch'ing hui tien, where all envoys from the King of Korea are thus styled.

*Tzu is used in speaking of correspondence between persons of equal rank.

ARTICLE II.

THE EXTREMITY OF THE ROMANS:

AND

PRAISE BEFORE THE HOLY MYSTERIES:

SYRIAC TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS.

BY PROFESSOR ISAAC H. HALL,

OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK CITY.

Presented to the Society May 11th, 1887.

AMONG the Syriac manuscripts recently acquired by the Union Theological Seminary, through the missionary, Rev. James E. Rogers, of Oroomiah, is a volume in thick, heavy boards, covered with leather, 6x41x14 inches in dimension. It is written on thickish glazed paper; the written space on a page being 4×3 inches, surrounded by a double, ruled, black line, and comprising 14 or 15 lines to a page usually, but often 16, and now and then 13. It consists of 10 quires, all quiniones but the last, which is a quaternion; and therefore the manuscript contained originally 98 leaves, or 196 pages. The first five leaves are now so badly mutilated that they may be called wanting. Six pages of the book are occupied with rude colored drawings composed of straight lines and circles or parts of circles; sometimes with some words in Syriac; but the drawings appear to have no connection with the subject-matter. The first 169 pages are occupied with the Revelation of the Apostle Paul, substantially the same with that of which a translation by Rev. Dr. Justin Perkins was published in the Journal, vol. viii., though the variants are many. This is followed by the composition now under consideration, which extends from the top of page 170 to the middle of page 188 ;*

*The pages are not numbered in the MS., and the numbers I give are by count, including the five mutilated leaves.

and the rest of the volume is occupied by a hymn of "Praise before the Holy Mysteries." The title and subscription to the Revelation of Paul are in red, as are also those of the two other compositions. The writing is in a fair Nestorian, apparently of the last century; but the whole manuscript is somewhat careless as a copy. The subscription to the last composition is probably that intended for the whole book; but while it gives the month, it omits the year, and probably several other intended words. This subscription reads as follows:

"And this book was finished in the blessed and blessing Heziran, by the hands of me whose foolish name as deacon is Baryaka Jaluia, from Bar Kâzi, of Qeritha Náhrâ."

The second composition in the MS., "The Extremity of the Romans," I thus far find nowhere else. The nearest thing to it, as I judge from the title, is the MS. Sachau 221 (3), "Der zweite Brief, der aus dem Himmel auf Rom niedergefallen zur Zeit des Patriarchen Theodosius"; but this composition tells about the third letter that fell from heaven, in the time. of Athanasius, patriarch of the Romans [i. e. Greeks]. It could not be the great Athanasius known to church history, for the time assigned in this document is A.D. 778, or about four centuries and a half later than his time.

Nor does the document seem to be a translation from the Greek, but an original composition; though I have not searched the patristic literature to see if there is extant any Greek composition corresponding. The nearest hint of its genesis that I can get is derived from the fact that it contains a number of Syriac expressions either identical with or closely resembling the Revelation of Paul. But the Revelation of Paul, as appears from a comparison of the Greek and Syriac, was doubtless originally Greek,* the extant Syriac being an amplified translation; and this "Extremity of the Romans" a later composition than that Syriac version. Now the age of the Greek composition was discussed by Tischendorf in the Theol. Studien u. Kritiken (Heidelberg), in 1851, with the result that its date was one or two years before the death of the emperor Theodosius; a result which later studies confirmed, and caused him to re-affirm in his Apocalypses Apocryphae (Prolegg., p. xvI.) Put this with the fact that the second letter" of the Sachau MS. above referred to is ascribed to the time of the patriarch of Rome, Theodosius, a character very difficult to find, and it would seem that the lat

* This too is Tischendorf's judgment, Apocalypses Apocryphae Prolegomena, p. XVII. “Utrumque textum comparanti non potest dubium esse quin Graeca antiquiorem et puriorem Syriacis libri formam conservaverint. Ita enim vero in his maxime libris fieri consuevit ut orientalium ingenia libere excolerent quae accepissent a Graecis." This last observation every Oriental scholar knows to be but a mild statement.