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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 British survey ship, the Flying Fish, and conveyed to Nagasaki. There was, naturally, intense anger in Japan over this incident and loud demands for war. A little more than three weeks after, Hanabusa returned to Seoul with a strong military escort.
It was the more mortifying, therefore, that the Hanabusa incident served to strengthen China's authority. It gave Peking an excuse to despatch and maintain a considerable force at Seoul, for the first time for hundreds of years. The Japanese tried to turn the affair to their advantage by demanding-still more concessions. The Korean rulers found it hard to refuse these determined little men.
Chemulpo's origin is said to be as follows: The Japanese government, represented at Seoul by a very able and shrewd man called Hanabusa, had repeatedly urged the Corean king to open to Japanese trade a port somewhat nearer to the capital.
He had brought back the 400,000 yen which Japan had exacted as indemnity for the Hanabusa outrage. Japan desired Korea's friendship, he declared, not her money. He also brought a stand of Japanese-made rifles, a gift from the Emperor to the King, and a very significant gift, too.
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.
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