sequence. It was the
abolishment of this sacred adornment which brought about a rebellion.
Those who did not obey the order were hiding from the officials, while
those who did were mobbed and in danger of being killed by the populace.

The King's first act after his escape was to issue a royal proclamation
disclaiming with horror the edict degrading and casting infamous
reflections upon his beloved Queen. It also rescinded the edicts he
had signed under compulsion. It said: "As to the Top Knot, no one
shall be forced. Do as you please"; and he continues: "Traitors by
their crimes have made trouble. Soldiers, come and protect us! You
are our children! You are all pardoned. But when you meet the chief
traitors" (naming them) "cut off their heads at once and bring them.

"Soldiers, attend us at the Russian Legation."

Within an hour all were aware of the repeal of the Top Knot decree, and
several of the cabinet officers had been beheaded on the streets of
Seoul.

Although the Government of the Mikado was innocent of any complicity
with this crime, renegade Japanese officials had been leaders in the
plot, and Japanese ascendancy had received a severe blow. A point had
also been secured by Russia, when the King for one year ruled his
kingdom from her legation at Seoul. It is easy to conceive that the
distracted man, grateful for protection, did at this time, as is
supposed, consent to the purchase of lands and cutting of timber by the
Russians on the Yalu, which the following year (1896) expanded into a
grant of an extended tract, and became the centre of a large Russian
industry in Northern Korea. And it is significant that Admiral
Alexieff was one of the prime movers in this project, which to Japan
seemed to have a thinly veiled political purpose, and which became, in
fact, one of the chief _casus belli_.

In 1899 the Tsar issued an order for the creation of a city on the Bay
of Talien-Wan; and in two years Dalny stood in massive completeness,
with docks and wharves and defences which had cost millions of dollars.
Millions more had been expended upon Port Arthur, and still more
millions upon the railway binding Manchuria to Russia with bands of
steel. This did not look like temporary occupation; like pitching her
tent for a passing emergency. Still, in the frequent interchange of
notes with the powers, there was never an acknowledgment that a
permanent occupation was intended. In displeasure at these rep