the rivalry of the foreign powers ceased.

Meanwhile internal discontent was rife in the Corean realm. The people
were oppressed by heavy taxes and the other evils of tyranny and
misgovernment, excited by the political questions described, and stirred
to great feeling by the labors of the Christian missionaries and the
persecution of their converts. One outcome of this was a new religious
sect. At the same time that the Tai-ping rebels were spreading their new
doctrines in China, a prophet, Choi-Chei-Ou by name, arose in Corea, who
taught a doctrine made up of dogmas of the three religions of China,
with some Christian ideas thrown in. This prophet was seized as a Roman
Catholic in 1865 and executed, but his followers, known as the
Tong-Haks, held firm to their faith. In 1893 some of them appeared with
complaints of ill usage at the king's palace, and in March, 1894, they
broke out in open revolt, and increased in numbers so rapidly that by
May they were said to be twenty thousand strong.

The government troops drove them back into a mountain region, but here
the pursuers were cunningly led into an ambuscade and routed with severe
loss. This victory of the rebels filled the government with
consternation, which became greater when the insurgents, on June 1, took
the capital of the province of Choella. It was now feared that they would
soon be at the gates of Seoul.

This insurrection of the Tong-Haks was the inciting cause of the war
between China and Japan. The Min faction, then at the head of affairs,
was so alarmed that aid from China was implored, and a force of about
two thousand Chinese troops was sent to the port of Asan. Some Chinese
men-of-war were also despatched. This action of China was quickly
followed by similar action on the part of Japan, which was jealous of
any Chinese movement in Corea. The Japanese minister, who had been
absent, returned to Seoul with four hundred marines. Other troops
quickly followed, and in a short time there were several thousand
Japanese soldiers stationed around the Corean capital.

The sending of troops to Corea was succeeded by disputes between the two
foreign powers. China claimed to be suzerain of Corea, a claim which
Japan sternly denied. On the other hand, the Japanese government
declared that the Tong-Hak movement was a natural result of the
prevailing misgovernment, and could not be overcome unless radical
reforms were carried out. China was asked to take part in ins