he ceased to be Regent.
But he reckoned without the Queen. She was as ambitious as the Regent. The
birth of a son greatly improved and strengthened her authority, and she
gradually edged the Regent's party out of high office. Her brother, Min
Yeung-ho, became Prime Minister; her nephew, Min Yung-ik, was sent as
Ambassador to the United States. The Regent was anti-foreign; the Queen
advocated the admission of foreigners. The Regent tried to strengthen his
hold by a very vigorous policy of murder, attempting the death of the Queen
and her relatives. One little incident was an effort to blow up the Queen.
But Queen Min was triumphant every time. The King, usually weak and easily
moved, really loved the Queen, refused to be influenced away from her, and
was dominated by her strong character.

In the summer of 1881 there was a famine in the land. The Regent's agents
were busy everywhere whispering that the spirits were angry with the nation
for admitting the foreigner, and that Queen Min had brought the wrath of
the gods on them. The National Treasury failed, and many of the King's
soldiers and retainers were ready for any trouble. A great mob gathered in
the streets. It first attacked and murdered the King's Ministers, and
destroyed their houses. Then it turned against the King's palace.

Word came to the Queen's quarters that the rioters were hammering at the
gates and would soon be on her. The palace guards had weakened, and some
had even joined the people. Queen Min was calm and collected. She quickly
changed clothes with one of her serving women, who somewhat resembled her
in appearance. The serving woman, dressed in the robes of the Queen, was
given a draught of poison and died.

The Queen hurried out through a side way, in peasant woman's dress, guarded
by a water carrier, Yi Yung-ik, who for his services that day rose till he
finally became Prime Minister of the land. When the crowd broke into the
Queen's private apartments, they were shown the corpse and told that it was
the Queen, who had died rather than face them.

The crowd swept on and attacked the Japanese Legation. The Minister,
Hanabusa, and his guard, with all the civilians who could reach the
place--the rest were murdered--fought bravely, keeping the mob back until
the Legation building was set afire. Then they battled their way through
the city to the coast. The survivors--twenty-six out of forty--set to sea
in a junk. They were picked up at sea by a Br